Switching gears drastically from vintage Rolex to vintage perfect replica Patek Philippe, our friends over at Collectability just listed one of my all-time favorite Patek Philippe Calatrava references, the ref. 1491. In rose gold, it is all the more special.
The 1491 was made in roughly 400 examples between the years 1940 and 1965. That’s quite the production span for a relatively low run of UK high quality copy watches. I suspect that while we love the unique charm of this reference’s “scroll” lugs today, back in the day, it was a bit out there for Patek’s clientele. You had to be a very unique buyer to go for this watch and that’s exactly what makes it special today. Top replica Patek Philippe watches’ design language, especially in this period, was extremely restrained and classical – think of the classic ref. 96 Calatrava or even the complicated elegance of a ref. 1518. This watch may not seem so crazy to us today but back then, it was off-the-wall insane.
If you Google or search for other examples of this reference, you will find that the vast majority have a sub-seconds register at six o’clock. This particular example is made rare as it features a central seconds hand, a feature that is confirmed as correct by the Extract from the Archives noting a caliber 27 SC, “SC” for center seconds. While it has all of this going for it, there is one “issue” with this watch – the dial was replaced by cheap super clone Patek Philippe at service. The obvious tell are the sigma symbols on either side of the “Swiss” marking at six o’clock – a feature of some dials after 1971. Given the importance of the best fake watches, a collector could look past this demerit and it’s important to note that the price is reflective of a service dial as well.