Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Nov 12, 2006

LOT 37

?For Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.? Patek Philippe & Co, Geneve, No. 90573, case No. 209122. Made for Tiffany & Co., New York. Made in 1892, sold on December 1892. Very fine and rare, small, minute-repeating 18K gold pocket watch with split-seconds chronograph, given by Cornelius Vanderbilt II to his son Cornelius Vanderbilt III, July 1893. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

CHF 20,000 - 25,000

EUR 13,000 - 16,000 / USD 16,000 - 20,000

Sold: CHF 33,040

C. Four-body, ?bassine?, polished, the back cover with engraved monogram ?CV?, the interior inscribed ?Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. from his father, July 1893?, bolt at 11 to lock the chronograph. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel with narrow radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and concentric fifths of a second divisions, Arabic five minute/seconds numerals, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel ?spade? hands. M. 16???, rhodium-plated, ?fausses côtes? decoration, 28 jewels, counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band. Dial, case and movement signed Tiffany & Co., New York. Diam. 44 mm.


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873-1942) Was a distinguished American military officer, inventor, engineer, and yachtsman, and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. Called "Neily" by his close friends, he was the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and son of Alice Claypoole Gwynne and Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Born in New York City, he was educated by private tutors at St. Pauls School in Concord, New Hampshire before attending Yale University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1895. Against his father's wishes, in a disagreement that actually led to physical blows, in August of 1896 he married Grace Graham Wilson. Remaining at Yale until 1899, he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree and, having a great deal of interest in the mechanical and engineering aspects of his family?s railroad business, he also earned a degree in mechanical engineering. Neily Vanderbilt was an inveterate tinkerer with all things mechanical and during his lifetime he patented more than thirty inventions for improving locomotives and freight cars, including several which brought him a significant royalty income.