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Lot Essay
US$80,000-120,000
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch with engraved initials to the case in 1879 and its subsequent sale on 20 July 1880.
It is interesting to note that this watch was made with a perpetual calendar mechanism already in 1879, ten years prior to the official Swiss patent no. 1018 for Patek Philippe's perpetual calendar mechanism granted on 23 May 1889. It is furthermore believed to be the second oldest minute repeating perpetual calendar watch with simple chronograph known to have appeared in public to date.
The advantage of a perpetual calendar mechanism designed for pocket watches lies in its ability to produce both instantaneously and simultaneously the jump in days, dates, months and lunar phases.
Able to perform in all dimensions, the mechanism is characterised by its combination of its wheel, which carries a bevelled pin, its heart-piece and its levers that simultaneously cause its star-wheels to come into action.
For a drawing and description of this mechanism see Patek Philippe by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, p. 56, pl. 50.
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch with engraved initials to the case in 1879 and its subsequent sale on 20 July 1880.
It is interesting to note that this watch was made with a perpetual calendar mechanism already in 1879, ten years prior to the official Swiss patent no. 1018 for Patek Philippe's perpetual calendar mechanism granted on 23 May 1889. It is furthermore believed to be the second oldest minute repeating perpetual calendar watch with simple chronograph known to have appeared in public to date.
The advantage of a perpetual calendar mechanism designed for pocket watches lies in its ability to produce both instantaneously and simultaneously the jump in days, dates, months and lunar phases.
Able to perform in all dimensions, the mechanism is characterised by its combination of its wheel, which carries a bevelled pin, its heart-piece and its levers that simultaneously cause its star-wheels to come into action.
For a drawing and description of this mechanism see Patek Philippe by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, p. 56, pl. 50.