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Lot Essay
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch in 1956 and its subsequent sale on August 21st of 1958.
The present watch is from the Collection of Andy Warhol, and was last seen on the market in the late 1980's. Besides being an artist, Mr. Warhol was a collector of many vintage items, including watches.
Reference 2526 is commonly known with an enamel dial and applied gold baton numerals. Very few examples exist with different numerals, such as diamond indexes or Breguet numerals.
Applied hour markers are mounted onto the dial by means of sticking pins, attached to the back of the numeral, through the holes in the dial plate. Whereas the holes for a regular 2526 dial fitted with baton indexes are all aligned on radiances from the center, the Breguet numerals need completely differently positioned holes to account for their different shapes and if the Arabic number is composed of one or two digits. Since the holes for the numerals must be pierced before the dial is enamelled (otherwise the enamel coating would immediately crack), the raw dial is already chosen to become a Breguet dial before the enamelling process is started.
Examples of the Reference 2526 can be found in Patek Philippe Wristwatches by M. Huber & A. Banbery, first edition, pg. 165-166, and second edition, pg. 213-214.
The present watch is from the Collection of Andy Warhol, and was last seen on the market in the late 1980's. Besides being an artist, Mr. Warhol was a collector of many vintage items, including watches.
Reference 2526 is commonly known with an enamel dial and applied gold baton numerals. Very few examples exist with different numerals, such as diamond indexes or Breguet numerals.
Applied hour markers are mounted onto the dial by means of sticking pins, attached to the back of the numeral, through the holes in the dial plate. Whereas the holes for a regular 2526 dial fitted with baton indexes are all aligned on radiances from the center, the Breguet numerals need completely differently positioned holes to account for their different shapes and if the Arabic number is composed of one or two digits. Since the holes for the numerals must be pierced before the dial is enamelled (otherwise the enamel coating would immediately crack), the raw dial is already chosen to become a Breguet dial before the enamelling process is started.
Examples of the Reference 2526 can be found in Patek Philippe Wristwatches by M. Huber & A. Banbery, first edition, pg. 165-166, and second edition, pg. 213-214.