Released in 1932 and named after the cross that the Calatrava Knights paraded around Spain and Portugal during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Patek Philippe Calatrava was released as a simple timepiece with broad appeal that would help secure Patek Philippe's finances following Jean and Charles Henri Stern's investment in the brand in the same year. Designed with a strict Bauhaus-inspired aesthetic in mind, the Calatrava used, and continues to use, simplicity as its means of establishing intrigue around the craftsmanship required to construct such a stunning timepiece. Without a complicated movement or a busy design, collectors gravitate towards the Calatrava's clean aesthetic and practicality, and the ref. 2533J we have here embodies that same design language perfectly. Launched in 1952 alongside the ref. 2532, to replace the ref. 565, it features a large 34.5mm case instead of the 31mm used by the ref. 96 and other dress watches at the time. Designed as a sportier watch, it features a screw-down caseback that it took from the ref. 565 and thus offers its wearer some water resistance, making it far more capable than most other dress watches at the time. Still practical for a modern collector, the ref. 2533 merges the Calatrava's original design brief in its purest form with a diameter that contemporary collectors can enjoy to this very day.

Blending tremendously modern technology for the time with a classically-informed design language, the ref. 2533J is a wonderfully contained package that easily fits within the modern horological landscape.