Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Jun 02, 2007

LOT 278

Hunting Cased ?Independent Dead Center Seconds? Patek, Philippe & Cie., Genève, No. 90496, case No. 223592. Made in 1892, sold in December 1905 to Verhagen & Co. Very fine and very rare, 18K gold, hunting-cased, two-train, keyless pocket watch with independent dead center seconds. Accompanied by the original Certificat d?Origine and a letter from Patek Philippe regarding this watch dated July 28, 1980 and by the Extract from the Archives.

HKD 500,000 - 600,000

USD 65,000 - 80,000 / EUR 50,000 - 60,000

Sold: HKD 542,800

C. Four-body, "bassine", polished, activating push-button at 1 o?clock in the band. Hinged gold cuvette. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. 42 mm., 19???, rhodium-plated, 27 jewels, straight-line counterpoised and calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, a flirt mounted on the last pinion of the independent dead seconds train engaging escape wheel pinion allowing one-second jumps, Philippe?s patented winding system. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 52 mm. Property of an Italian Gentleman


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2-28-32

Very good

Replacements

Slightly restored
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

In the letter from Patek Philippe, dated July 28, 1980, it is stated that the present watch was open-faced and that the back was engraved with the initials ?EG?. The case was upgraded to hunting-cased and the monogram removed by Patek Philippe at the request of the former owner. 278 In 1776, in Geneva, Moise Pouzait invented the independent dead seconds mechanism in which the movement has two trains, one conventional, and the second with a sweep-seconds hand which can be stopped without stopping the main train. Adrien Philippe?s independent dead seconds mechanism differs radically from the conventional one based on Pouzait?s design. Philippe moved the entire "independent" train over the center bridge, allowing more room for the going train and the balance, which is larger, resulting in better timekeeping. There are fewer than two dozen recorded independent dead seconds watches by Patek Philippe, including the very first ones made by Patek and Czapek. This watch incorporates Adrien Philippe?s two patents concerning tandem winding: the first, for a "free", or "slipping", mainspring, patented on June 16, 1863 in France, and the second, for winding two mainsprings with one crown, Swiss patent No. 1017 of May 23, 1889. A similar watch was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, April 24, 2004, lot 81. A virtually identical movement (No. 174021), is illustrated in "Patek Philippe, Genève", by Martin Huber and Alan Banbery, p.195.