Though the famous Calatrava is — for good reason — perhaps the best known of Patek Philippe’s incredible dress watches, there are myriad others that deserve recognition.

From the rectangular Gondolo to the curvaceous Golden Ellipse, these timepieces, though simple in design, beg a closer look for their classic proportions and strict attention to detail. Patek has been producing such wristwatches for roughly a century of its 180-plus years, and shows no signs of slowing down.

This particular dress watch, a Reference 4296J from the late 1970s, exhibits all the hallmarks of refined 20th-century watchmaking. Housed in a 28mm 18K yellow gold case with a sapphire crystal, an 18K yellow gold signed crown, and a stepped beel, it features a gloss white dial double-signed by Beyer, the famed Swiss watch retailer in Zürich, with painted black Roman indices, a matching ‘stick’ handset, and an inner, closed ‘railroad’ minute track. 

Powered by the hand-wound Patek Philippe Calibre 16 250, it comes paired to a black crocodile strap and includes its certificate of origin and receipt from 1978. Handsome, elegant and simple, it’s a fine example of Patek’s expertise in understated elegance.

Check it out today!