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Lot Essay
This endangered species strap is shown for display purposes only and is not for sale. The watch will be supplied with a calf leather strap.
Highly attractive and preserved in very good overall condition with a crisp hallmark under the lug. The present timepiece features a first-series dial - First-series dials are characterized by the small dimples that are found at each hour marker. The construction consisted of attaching the hour markers to the dials by setting them with pins. Patek Philippe stopped this practice relatively early in production as many dials were broken in the process. From that point onwards, most 2526 enamel dials had the hour markers glued to the dial. Consequently, reference 2526 with the first-series dials are highly desirable and sought after by collectors.
Of particular interest, studies shows that the present wristwatch is from the first 150 pieces ever made by Patek Philippe, due to its balance wheel not being the Gyromax version which will be later featured on all the reference 2526.
Reference 2526
Introduced into the market in 1952, reference 2526 was Patek Philippe's first self-winding or automatic watch, starting with movement number 760'000. The model features the legendary calibre 12-600 AT which was granted Swiss patent no. 289758 in 1953 for "a self-winding mechanism for a wristwatch movement using the energy supplied by a rotary mass causing an eccentric part to transmit a swinging movement to an organ of the mechanism".
The majority of reference 2526 was cased in yellow gold, a small series in pink gold and an exceedingly limited number in white gold and platinum. Mainly fitted with enamel dials with applied gold baton numerals, the white gold and platinum examples were also available with silvered metal dials with diamond indexes.
The reference can be divided in three distinct series:
First series: domed case back, enamel dial and riveted indexes. The dial presents flared holes under each index in order to allow for their setting.
Second series: domed case back, enamel dials with the numerals glued to the surface. The dial presents only two flared holes for the hands.
Third series: flat case back, same dial as on second series and in later examples metal dial.
Fourth series: same as third series, but with new calibre 27-460
Reference 2526 is illustrated in: Blue Book 2, 2019 edition, pp. 56-143
Highly attractive and preserved in very good overall condition with a crisp hallmark under the lug. The present timepiece features a first-series dial - First-series dials are characterized by the small dimples that are found at each hour marker. The construction consisted of attaching the hour markers to the dials by setting them with pins. Patek Philippe stopped this practice relatively early in production as many dials were broken in the process. From that point onwards, most 2526 enamel dials had the hour markers glued to the dial. Consequently, reference 2526 with the first-series dials are highly desirable and sought after by collectors.
Of particular interest, studies shows that the present wristwatch is from the first 150 pieces ever made by Patek Philippe, due to its balance wheel not being the Gyromax version which will be later featured on all the reference 2526.
Reference 2526
Introduced into the market in 1952, reference 2526 was Patek Philippe's first self-winding or automatic watch, starting with movement number 760'000. The model features the legendary calibre 12-600 AT which was granted Swiss patent no. 289758 in 1953 for "a self-winding mechanism for a wristwatch movement using the energy supplied by a rotary mass causing an eccentric part to transmit a swinging movement to an organ of the mechanism".
The majority of reference 2526 was cased in yellow gold, a small series in pink gold and an exceedingly limited number in white gold and platinum. Mainly fitted with enamel dials with applied gold baton numerals, the white gold and platinum examples were also available with silvered metal dials with diamond indexes.
The reference can be divided in three distinct series:
First series: domed case back, enamel dial and riveted indexes. The dial presents flared holes under each index in order to allow for their setting.
Second series: domed case back, enamel dials with the numerals glued to the surface. The dial presents only two flared holes for the hands.
Third series: flat case back, same dial as on second series and in later examples metal dial.
Fourth series: same as third series, but with new calibre 27-460
Reference 2526 is illustrated in: Blue Book 2, 2019 edition, pp. 56-143