Patek Philippe Calatrava “Timeless White

The “blanc de blancs” of feminine elegance

Timeless elegance, forever precious, the new Patek Philippe Calatrava “Timeless White” mechanical ladies’ watch, reference 7122, lives up to its name. For this resolutely modern creation, entirely adorned in white and enhanced by an innovative diamond-setting design, will have lost none of its feminine allure even decades from now, when its lucky owner has passed it on to her granddaughter. Patek Philippe thus reaffirms its philosophy since 1839: to capture the essence of time not only in the most precise way, but also in its most eternal guise.
To the human eye, white is simply the absence of color. But culturally, it is one of the most highly symbolic hues in the world. The connotations vary from society to society, but on closer inspection, the differences are not so great. White is synonymous with purity, integrity and serenity in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Patek Philippe already expressed all this symbolic power a few years ago in the Twenty~4® “Timeless White”, which appealed to many women. Today, “timeless white” has entered the Calatrava family of ladies’ wristwatches, with a larger collection featuring it even more prominently. The new Patek Philippe Calatrava “Timeless White” reference 7122, available in white and rose gold, combines an ultra-white dial, immaculate white diamonds and a pearly white alligator strap.

A feminine design of extreme purity
The case already shows what Patek Philippe means by “timeless”. Its sober, pure lines are reminiscent of the first Calatrava from 1932, reference 96. But they remain perfectly contemporary and will lose none of their modernity in the eyes of future generations. To give more space to the original diamond setting and create bracelet attachments that extend to the crystal, Patek Philippe had to develop an entirely new case construction with integrated lugs. This architecture complicates the manufacturing process. It also requires special skills to polish the surfaces, particularly at the points where they join the precious stone decoration ending in a point. The diamond set itself is a dazzling demonstration of haute joaillerie. Thanks to the use of brilliants of various diameters, it has been possible to set the lateral decorations right to their ends, making the usual gold “filling grains” superfluous – and making this watch an even more refined creation. In keeping with the “Timeless White” theme, all the diamonds are extra Top Wesselton white (equivalent, on the international scale, to the letters F or G). This excellence requires a very rigorous selection of the 44 diamonds of different diameters totalling almost 0.52 carat, and makes the setter’s task all the more arduous. But only at this price can the Calatrava “Timeless White” reference 7122 become a precious object that will delight generations of women.

A snow-white dial
The diamond lights surround a white lacquered dial with a polished surface as flawless as its color. This dial takes several days to make, in conditions equivalent to those of a “white room”. Only a steady, expert hand can apply the lacquer so evenly that the surface remains perfectly smooth. The overall composition is equally seductive in its extreme purity, with a fine printed minute track, applied gold hour-markers and elegant, slim-cut gold “leaf” hands. The hour markers are adorned with a “Clous de Paris” decoration that every watch connoisseur immediately associates with the name Patek Philippe. In the 1980s, the Geneva-based manufacture brought this refined yet discreet guilloché back to the forefront on the bezel of a Calatrava reference 3919 model. On the Calatrava “Timeless White”, the “Clous de Paris” motif gives the hour markers the appearance of small crenellated crowns, enhancing the dial’s nobility.

The beauty of mechanics
Beneath the dazzling white dial and refined diamond setting lies a mechanical caliber 215 PS, driving the hands with the utmost reliability and precision (its tolerance of -3/+2 seconds per day is far more stringent than the usual requirements for mechanical watches). The movement is hand-wound – a system that is becoming increasingly popular with women, especially for timeless watches. Connoisseurs appreciate the daily ritual of turning the winding crown before putting the watch on their wrist, thus providing their Calatrava “Timeless White” with the energy it needs for a new day. A glance through the sapphire crystal caseback reveals much more than just the functional juxtaposition of interacting mechanical parts. A magnificent spectacle is revealed, with refined architecture and carefully hand-finished and decorated components. Bridges with Côtes de Genève and chamfered, polished edges. Brass wheels with golden highlights and beveled arms. Ringed steel wheels for the winding mechanism and barrel. Screws with polished slots in molded and polished holes. The brilliance of deep-red synthetic ruby stones. The Gyromax® balance, developed by Patek Philippe, with patented Spiromax® balance spring that oscillates even more precisely than the usual flat balance springs. Thanks to these aesthetic and functional details, often requiring great manual dexterity, the mechanism retains a little of the soul of all the specialists involved in developing the movement.
The Calatrava “Timeless White” reference 7122 is offered in 18-carat white or pink gold. It is worn on a large square-scaled alligator strap with a soft pearly white sheen, and a matching 18-carat gold pin buckle.

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