Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Hong Kong, Jun 27, 2015

LOT 272

PATEK PHILIPPE INDEPENDENT CENTER SECONDS YELLOW GOLD Patek, Philippe & Cie., Genève, No. 124969, case No. 269118. Made in 1904, sold on July 31, 1912. Very fine and very rare, 18K yellow gold, half-hunting-cased, two-train, keyless pocket watch with independent dead center- seconds. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

HKD 200,000 - 270,000

USD 26,000 - 37,000 / CHF 25,000 - 35,000

Sold: HKD 225,000

Four-body, "bassine", polished, the front cover with Royal blue enamel radial Roman numerals and inner minute track, activating pushbutton at 4 o'clock in the band. Hinged gold cuvette with engraved dedication. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track. Blued steel spade hands. 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, index regulator, a flirt mounted on the last pinion of the independent dead seconds train engaging escape wheel pinion allowing one-second jumps, Adrien Philippe's patented winding system.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 3*

Good

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

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

Dial, case and movement signed. DIAM. 53 mm. 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.