An avid surfer for decades, it is no surprise that the collector who assembled the Ride the Wave collection would acquire this rare iteration of Patek Philippe’s Calatrava lineage, a reference 2545 with a possibly unique “ACUATIC” designation. Our research shows that this specific 2545 is the only one of its kind with the “Acuatic” designation. The signature indicating waterproofness is corroborated by the screw-down caseback.

Other Calatravas, such as the reference 565, with Borgel-fabricated case, show the “acuatic” signature at 6 o’clock: two examples, one sold by Phillips Geneva in 2016, are in 18K pink gold and retailed by Freccero, the noted Uruguayan retailer. One might conclude that the present 2545 in pink gold was also destined for the South American market.

Very few reference 2545s were cased in pink gold (the majority were in yellow gold), and the present 2545 belongs to the second series of the reference, fitted with the manually wound caliber 12-400. It remained in production for less than a decade after its introduction in 1951. The present example appeared at auction in 2003 as part of the collection of Theodore Beyer. Now having been part of two distinguished collections, this rare and interesting gem is offered for the first time in two decades, accompanied with its Extract from the Archives, in excellent condition with crisp hallmarks visible to the side of the case and underneath the lugs.