Monday Morning Find: Longines Gilt Dial Tre Tacche Calatrava

After a week fixated on the latest in complicated high watchmaking at the SIHH show, it's time to go back to basics. Patek Philippe might now own the name "Calatrava" but it's used among vintage watch collectors to refer to any small, simple time-only watch from the mid-20th century. This simple black Longines Calatrava from the 1940s might look unassuming, and that's exactly what makes it so elegant.

When you start looking at watches from the 1940s, there are a few big things you need to keep in mind. Back then, watches were smaller. Much smaller. At 35mm, this would have been considered an oversized model when it first came out and is much rarer than the smaller versions. The sort of orangish tint to the hands might look like corrosion, but it's actually the natural aged color of the radium used to make them light up. This was way before synthetic luminous material and even before the safer tritium.