Meet The Pretty Yellow Gold Case Patek Philippe Calatrava Quartz Watch Replica

Patek Philippe Calatrava watch replica

Patek Philippe Calatrava watch replica

 The Patek Philippe Calatrava watch replica Ref 3744J was an 18k solid gold timepiece produced by the high-end watchmaker in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and offered all the same trappings of a mechanical Calatrava, with the exception that it was powered by a quartz movement. Incredibly the brand made no effort to hide this fact, proudly emblazoning the word ‘Quartz’ across the bottom of the dial just above 6 o’clock.

Of course in the present day such a concept would be unthinkable. Although Patek Philippe still produces a number of quartz-powered watches, they are limited to the ladies watch collection and they certainly do not advertise the fact on the dial. However, these were different times and the brand was rightfully proud of the fact that it was incorporating cutting edge technology into its watches, as were its customers. One such classic example comes from one of the most unlikely of sources; Patek Philippe.

Patek Philippe Calatrava 3744 watch
Patek Philippe Calatrava 3744 watch

Now chances are if you have even more than a passing interest in watches, mechanical or otherwise, you’ll be familiar with the well-documented and oft-referred to ‘crisis’. For those who aren’t however the term is used predominately in the watchmaking industry to refer to the tremendous economic impact caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, which all but obliterated the companies that continued to only make mechanical Patek Philippe Calatrava copy watches.

Perhaps more significant though was a joint venture in the early 1950s between the Elgin Watch Company and Lip of France that also produced an electromechanical watch. This watch was powered by a small battery instead of an unwinding spring, and provided the best preview yet of what was to come. Despite the apparent advancements in the technology however many of the well-established Swiss brands were quick to dismiss the idea of a watch powered by a battery, let alone one that was not Swiss made (keep in mind that at this time the Swiss watch industry controlled 80% – 90% of the global watch market.) As history has shown us though, this assumption proved to be wildly incorrect.

Although it didn’t happen overnight, once Quartz watches hit the mainstream market in the 1970’s they gained in popularity at a fairly rapid pace, eventually surpassing the popularity of mechanical watches. Not only were they inexpensive compared to their mechanical counterparts, they were also a lot more accurate.

It’s hard for us to imagine now but back then the Swiss companies dominated watchmaking worldwide. Nearly every watch sold was powered by a mechanical movement of some description and the modern-day Japanese juggernauts like Seiko and Citizen were barely known outside their own country, despite both companies having produced timepieces for almost half-a-century before Seiko unveiled world’s first quartz watch – the Astron – in 1969. According to Seiko, the Astron was the result of 10 years of research and development and despite its high retail cost (which at the time was equivalent to the price of a medium-sized car according to Wikipedia) 100 gold watches were sold following its first week of commercial release.

The Swiss watch industry didn’t just lie down and die at this point however, although they did field some pretty serious casualties. Instead they slowly but surely began to fight back, with many brands beginning to offer quartz powered models alongside their mechanical ones. The difference was these Patek Philippe watches replica weren’t always markedly cheaper than their counterparts.