Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Hotel Noga Hilton, Oct 16, 2005

LOT 371

"Savonnette type" Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, No. 861365, case No. 690960, Ref. 2524/1. Made in 1955 and sold December 24,1958. Important and very rare minute-repeating, 18K yellow gold gentleman?s wristwatch with subsidiary seconds dial and an 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe buckle. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

CHF 300,000 - 400,000

EUR 200,000 - 260,000 / USD 250,000 - 325,000

Sold: CHF 308,750

C. Three-body, solid, polished and brushed, inclined bezel, concave lugs. D. Matte silver with applied yellow gold faceted Bâton indexes, outer dot minute markers, subsidiary seconds. Yellow gold "dauphine" hands. M. 12''' RM, "savonnette" type, rhodium-plated, "faussescôtes" decoration, 29 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring, swan-neck micrometer regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 34 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good

Movement: 2

Very good

Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Minute-repeating wristwatch movements were originally made for two types of case. The first, the "savonnette" type, features subsidiary seconds at 6 o?clock, and the repeat slide is activated in a clockwise direction. The second, the "Lépine" type, has no subsidiary seconds and the repeat slide is activated in an anti-clockwise direction. Similar watches are published in "Patek Philippe Genève, Wristwatches", by Martin Huber and Alan Banbery, 1998, pp. 318-319, and in "Collecting Patek Philippe Watches" by M. and O. Patrizzi, Guido Mondani Editore, Genova, 2000, pp. 314, 315, and 317. What is a Minute Repeater? A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the 9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality; it will count out the hours, then both hammers strike both gongs alternatively to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer alone striking a gong of higher tonality will count out the minutes after that quarter hour. The repeating mechanism was developed by Daniel Quare. In 1687, he had patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. The early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent-wire gongs became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the first minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.