Important Collector's Wristwatches & ...

Grand Havana Room, Sep 22, 2004

LOT 117

Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, No. 879636, Ref. 5004P. Production of this reference started in 1995. Extremely fine, rare and important, astronomic, water-resistant, platinum gentleman's wristwatch with round button co-axial split-seconds chronograph, registers, perpetual calendar, moon phases and a platinum Patek Philippe buckle.

USD 80,000 - 100,000

EUR 65,000 - 80,000

C. Three-body, solid, polished, transparent screwed-down case back, case band with 4 correctors, co-axial push button in the crown for the split-seconds function, concave bezel, fluted lugs, sapphire crystals. D. Black with applied and faceted white gold indexes, subsidiary dials for the 30-minute register and leap year at 3, the days of the month at 6, the seconds and the 24 hours at 9, apertures for the days of the week, the months and the moon phases, outer 1/5th seconds scale. White gold "baton" hands. M. Cal. CHR 27-70/150, stamped with the Geneva Quality Hallmark, rhodium plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 28 jewels, straight line lever escapement, Gyromax balance, shock-absorber, self-compensating free-sprung Breguet balance-spring.Dial, case and movement signed.Diam. 37 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 1 - 01

Notes

Ref. 5004 First produced in 1995, this highly complicated, manually wound wristwatch combines a split-seconds chronograph with the functions of the perpetual calendar and moon phase. The movement consists of a total of 404 parts. What is a split-seconds chronograph? A split-seconds chronograph or "rattrapante" is a type of chronograph watch with 2 co-axial superimposed center- seconds hands that are controlled by 2 push buttons. One push button controls the split-seconds hand to stop or join the chronograph hand. The other push-button controls both hands and the start / stop functions of the chronograph, while a third button will reset everything to zero. The chronograph hand and the split-seconds hand are used for timing several events that start simultaneously, but are of different durations. To operate the split-seconds chronograph, both hands are started and remain superimposed. Then at the end of the first duration, the split-seconds hand can be stopped, while the chronograph hand continues to move. The duration of the first event can be read. After recording, the split-seconds hand can be released to instantly move and join the chronograph hand, synchronizing with it and thus being ready for another recording. At the end of each event the hands then can be stopped and returned to zero. The split-seconds chronograph, in its present form, was introduced n 1880. Split-seconds chronograph wristwatches came on the market circa 1922 by Patek Philippe the first known wristwatch of this kind was Patek Philippe o. 124824, case no. 235326, which was sold by Antiquorum as lot 448 on ovember 14, 1999 for US $1,918,387, which was at the time the highest price ever realized for a wristwatch at auction. This timepiece appeared 5 years prior to the official release of the split-seconds chronograph, making Patek Philippe the first manufacture to create this complication in a wristwatch. As they require a highly complicated and technical mechanism, these watches are desirable, very collectible and extremely difficult to produce, accounting for their rarity.