Important Collectors Wristwatches, P...
Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, May 13, 2007
LOT 696
?One of Only Two Known Ultra-Complicated Watches with Double Chronograph? Patek Philippe & Co., Geneva, No. 198211, case No. 415317. Started in 1928, completed in 1931, sold on September 6, 1952. Exceptionally fine and highly important, extra large, ultra-complicated, astronomic, carillon minuterepeating with three hammers on three gongs, 18K yellow gold, keyless pocket watch with double chronograph, register, independent second register hand, perpetual calendar, moon phases and central alarm, one of only two ultra-complicated watches with double chronograph known to exist. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.
C. Four-body, ?bassine?, massive, solid, polished, concealed hinge, protected alarm hand-setting button at 11 o?clock, bolt at 1 o?clock to lock the chronograph. D. Matte silver, black champleve Breguet numerals, outer minutes and fifths of a second divisions, Arabic five minute/seconds numerals, subsidiary dials for the days of the week, the months, the date in red concentric with seconds, 30-minute register concentric with the aperture for the moon phases. Blued steel hour and minute hands and first chronograph and register hand, gold second chronograph, register and alarm hands. M. 21???, rhodium-plated, ?fausses cotes? decoration, 46 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold screws, adjusted to heat, cold isochronism and five positions, blued steel Breguet balance spring, swan-neck micrometer regulator, carillon repeating with three hammers on three gongs activated by a slide on the band, two visible independent chronograph mechanisms, co-axial chronograph button in the crown. Dial, case, cuvette and movement signed. Diam. 63 mm. Depth 21 mm. From ?The Collection?
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 2 |
Very good |
Movement: 2 |
Very good |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Notes
The 13 Complications
Perpetual calendar
Days of the month
Days of the week
Months
Moon phases
Chronograph
Split-second function
30-minute register
Additional split-second register hand
Minute-repeating
Carillon
Alarm
Multiple setting system
The present watch is one of the only two known examples of an ultra complicated pocket watch with double chronograph function, it is also one of the very few watches to have five central hands and independent register hands for the separate chronograph functions. In 1956 it was called one of the six most complicated watches ever made at the time by Patek. The other watch with the same complications is number 197542, sold in 1925. Both watches are illustrated in ?Patek Philippe, Genève?, Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, 1993, p. 237 & 256. This watch was sold via the Henry Stern Watch Agency in New York and is mentioned in a letter from their President, Werner Sonn, dated January 10, 1956. The value of the watch was then $10,000 and Sonn noted that it ?took 3 years to make this timepiece?. A further letter dated January 12, 1956, from Patek Philippe, Geneva, says that ?the manufacture of the ?ebauche? was begun in 1928, and completed several years later. The watch was then assembled and finally sent on September 6, 1952 to our General Agent for the States, the Henri Stern Company in New York?.
The Double Chronograph Patent The double chronograph is made to allow two simultaneous timings of the duration of an event as well as individual sections, thereby acting as two individual chronographs. The two chronographs are operated by the button on the crown also activating the return to zero of both chronographs and the 30-minute recorders. After the first pressure on the button both hands together with the two minute counter hands are engaged, with the second pressure, the pincerlike brake levers get closed and the ?upper? hands are stopped, with the third pressure the lower pair of hands are stopped too, the time of the two events may then be read. The fourth pressure releases the brake levers and all the hands are returned to zero. The double register works in the following manner: The first hand is zeroed with the center seconds hand and the second is zeroed with the second chronograph hand. The two stacked chronograph mechanisms are independently driven by the fourth wheel in tandem. This patent for the double chronograph was issued to Patek Philippe & Co. as No. 27052 on November 13th, 1902.
Carillon Repetition Patek Philippe only used this type of repetition in its highest quality pieces. Most were made on special request for wealthy patrons. The difficulty in producing carillon watches is maintaining the accuracy of the timekeeping throughout the duration of the striking.