Patek Philippe Calatrava Officier Ref. 5153 Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Apr 8th 2009 at 12:02PM

While there is a lot of appeal in this watch, is it OK that I am simply not taken with the design? For me, it looks too much like those sunray wall clocks from the 1950s and 1960s. This is of course just my personal opinion in regard to this Patek Philippe Calatrava Officier (Officer's) ref. 5153 watch that was just unveiled at Baselworld. The watch itself is meant to look retro ("traditional"), so the look is done on purpose and will inevitably appeal to at least some fans of the watch brand that 'can do no wrong.'

The 38mm case is in 18k yellow gold with a hinged caseback (in salute to pocket watches). Open the back and you get a view through the sapphire crystal into the Patek Philippe in-house Caliber 324SC automatic movement. The added date function does help modernize the look of the watch a bit, but just not enough for me. From a mechanical and refinement standpoint, this ref. 5153 has everything in the right place, but the design is just to antiquated to evoke that lusty feeling of desire that you should have when looking at a Patek Philippe timepiece. Price will likely be $30,000 - $50,000 when it is commercially available soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: Patek Philippe Officier watch