Collector's Pocket Watches, Wristwatc...

Noga Hilton, Geneva, Apr 12, 2003

LOT 133

Patek, Philippe & Cie., Genève,No. 174644, case No. 174644, made for Tiffany & Co. circa 1915.Exceptionally fine and possibly unique 18K gold keyless "EXTRA" adjusted, astronomical, minute-repeating pocket chronometer with perpetual calendar, phases of the moon and split-seconds chronograph with Guillaume balance, accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

CHF 160,000 - 200,000

EUR 110,000 - 140,000 / USD 120,000 - 150,000

Sold: CHF 201,500

C.Four-body, "bassine", polished with monogrammed back, concealed hinges, gold dedicated cuvette, chronograph safety bolt at 11 o'clock. D. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track, outermost fifth-second chronograph divisions with five-minute/seconds Arabic markers, three subsidiary sunk dials for days of the week, date, months concentric with subsidiary sunk seconds, and phases of the moon aperture with moon's age. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. 45 mm. (20'''), rhodium-plated, "ausses côtes" decoration, 36 jewels, "extra" 8 adjustments, straight line calibrated lever escapement, anibal-brass Guillaume balance with special alloy Breguet balance spring, "swan-neck" micrometric regulator, repeating on gongs through activating slide in the band.Signed on case and movement, dial signed by the retailer, case punched with Swiss gold guarantee mark.Diam. 54 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: A

Good

Case: 3
Movement: 3*
Dial: 3 - 01

Notes

This is to our knowledge the only triple-complicated Patek Philippe pocket chronometer with Guillaume balance. There are two known Patek Philippe watches with perpetual calendar and Guillaume balance (Nos. 80770 and 174688) but no additional complications.This watch comes from a small series of complicated watches made for Patek Philippe for clients such as James Ward Packard (Nos 174623 and 174749), or Henry Graves, Jr. In the same series are the famous Patek Philippe tourbillon watches with carriages made by James Pellaton. The present watch was especially made for Tiffany & Co., undoubtedly for a very special client.Anibal (acier au nickel pour balanciers), an alloy invented by Dr. Charles Edouard Guillaume, exhibits unusual properties, both in terms of thermal expansion and in changes in elasticity. These properties are very different from those of two other famous alloys invented by Guillaume, Invar and Elinvar. Around 1900 Guillaume attempted to eliminate the so-called Middle Temperature Error caused by the fact that the change of rate in a timekeeper with a steel-brass bimetallic balance is approximatela linear function of temperature, while the change of rate caused by change in elasticity of a balance spring is approximately a quadratic function. Thus, it equals zero at only two temperatures, causing secondary error. Countless attempts were made to eliminate Middle Temperature Error, usually by means of auxiliary compensation devices. In 1899, Guillaume noticed that steel with an addition of 44.4% nickel had a negative square coefficient of thermal expansion. This alloy, combined with brassin bimetallic lamina, makes its expansion close to quadratic. Balances with bimetallic rims made of anibal and brass are usually called Guillaume balances, or, as their inventor called them, integral balances. When combined with special balance springs, they exhibit remarkable temperature stability, on occasion not exceeding 1/50 second per day at 1oC.