DESCRIPTION
In the late 1938, Patek Philippe introduced a legendary watch design: the ref. 565. This new Calatrava was the answer to clients’ demand for a sportier and more robust “outdoors” Calatrava.
Thanks to its screw down caseback and two-piece case design (instead of the common 3 pieces) created by Taubert & Fils, the watch was waterproof and sturdy. Another daring design choice to enhance the sporty look, was the striking large and distinctively shaped crown.
The present example from 1952 features a yellow gold case in good condition and an extremely rare black dial with applied gold indexes and the “long signature” (PATEK PHILIPPE&Co).
Now the following question arises: How can a watch produced in 1952 feature a dial with the “long signature” which was only used until ca. 1949?
We believe that the original buyer bought the watch with a white dial in 1952 but decided to have it changed to a black one by Patek Philippe. Would it be too crazy to assume, that Patek Philippe still had a black “long signature” dial somewhere in their basement?
Or maybe Patek Philippe even produced this dial specifically for the buyer who preferred the old signature.
However, after contacting Patek Philippe regarding this very special dial, they confirmed that the dial is authentic (the watch has been serviced by them). But in their archives, only the “lapped gold indexes” are mentioned - something very ordinary for this period, by the way. Therefore, they can only print this information on the Extract from the Archives.
In the end, the dial question remains unanswered and a mystery, but maybe this just ads to the beauty of this timepiece.
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