Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Hong - Kong, Oct 09, 2010

LOT 267

So-Called Gyro PAM Officine Panerai, "Luminor 1950 GMT, Tourbillon", No. J031/100, case No. BB12060010, Ref. OP6709, PAM 276. Made in a limited series of 100 examples in 2007, sold on April 30, 2008. Very fine and very rare, oversized, cushion shaped, water resistant, stainless steel wristwatch, with one minute dual axes tourbillion regulator, three barrels, 6 days power reserve, two time zone, day and night indication with a stainless steel Officine Panerai buckle. Accompanied by a fitted wooden box, two certificates, a screwdriver, and an instruction booklet.

HKD 450,000 - 600,000

USD 58,000 - 77,000 / EUR 45,000 - 60,000

Sold: HKD 560,000

C. Three-body, polished and brushed, inverted bezel, straight curved lugs, winding crown with security lever, transparent screwed down case back, sapphire crystals. D. Matte black with luminous Arabic numerals and baton indexes, subsidiary dials for the seconds and blue spot tourbillion cage rotating indication and for the day and night indication. Luminous gilt baton hands, black arrow hand for the second time zone. M. Cal. P. 2005, ¾ plate, rhodium-plated, 31 jewels, three barrels, lateral lever escapement monometallic balance shock absorber, self-compensating Breguet balance spring, the tourbillion cage rotates on an axis parallel to the base of the movement at right angles to the axis of oscillation of the balance, the cage makes two rotations per minute, 6 days power reserve indication on the plate. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam 47 mm. Thickness 19 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 1

As new

Movement: 1

As new

Dial: 1-01

As new

HANDS Original

Notes

This Panerai Luminor 1950 illustrates a particular horolo-gical idea ? a tourbillon turning about two axes at right angles.
The idea is developed from an original idea of A. L. Breguet dating from before 1801, when he first patented it. An ordinary tourbillon is very successful at averaging the rate of its balance and spring provided that their axis is maintained at horizontal. However, there is almost inevitably a change of rate as the axis is moved until it is vertical, due to changes in friction at the pivots and in the effect of gravity. A theoretically correct solution to this problem is to make the tourbillon turn about three axes at right angles to each other, at varying and carefully calculated speeds, but the problems created by such a solution are bound to be greater than the errors to be corrected. An intermediate solution has been adopted in this clock. It is better at averaging the rate of the balance and spring than a simple tour-billon, less complicated than a triple-axis tourbillon. In 1978 Anthony Randall applied for the patent for the double?axis tourbillon, which was granted in 1982.
The Movement: Made of full plate brass with brass screws, the eight-day going train driven by a large and powerful key-wound mainspring contained in a going barrel. The great wheel is smaller in diameter than the barrel and spigoted to the end. It meshes with an intermediate pinion having a short arbor pivoted in a brass strap in the pilar plate. The carriage is made of polished brass and rotates about each axis, a large wheel mounted below the carriage meshes with a fixed contrate wheel, the drive to the whole assembly given by a wheel on the crossbar pinion meshing with the fourth wheel. Richard Good?s triple axis tourbillon was sold by Antiquorum, Important Watches, ?Collectors? Wristwatches and Clocks?, Geneva, 14-11-2004