Timeless Beauty: Spectacular Wristwat...

Hotel Noga Hilton, Oct 24, 2004

LOT 254

?Luminous Dial? Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, No. 198097, case No. 291462, Produced in 1927, sold on March 18, 1957. Unique and very important 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch with single button chronograph on the crown, special dial with vertical register, tachometer and an 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe buckle. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

CHF 0 - 0

EUR 0 - 0 / USD 0 - 0

Sold: CHF 1,106,250

C. Four-body, solid, polished and brushed, rounded bezel, concave curved lugs, gold cuvette, chronograph lock on the band.D. Silvered pink with radium-coated baton indexes, vertical subsidiary seconds and 30-minute register dials, outer tachometer graduation, concentric, 1/5th second scale. Radium-coated yellow gold "dauphine" hands. M. 13''', rhodium plated, 19 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic balance, Breguet balance-spring, the winding-crown is for start-stop and return to zero functions of the chronograph.Dial, case and movement signed.Diam. 33 mm. Height 10.8 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3 - 6
Movement: 3 - 5 - 6*
Dial: 3 - 5 - 6 - 01

Notes

Made in 1927, this watch originally had a silvered dial with Breguet numerals. When it was sold thirty years after production, in 1957, it was fitted with a luminous dial with radium-coated indexes and radium-coated yellow gold dauphine hands at the client,s request, giving the watch a more contemporary apparance. To our knowledge, this is the first time a single button chronograph with these characteristics has been offered at auction. Patek Philippe single-button chronograph wristwatches are technically and esthetically remarkable, both in terms of iconography and the conception of the movement. The register dials, tachometer graduation and outer 1/5th second scale are arranged on the dial with perfect elegance. A similar watch is published in "Patek Philippe Wristwatches", by Martin Huber and Alan Banbery, 1998, p. 259.