Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Jun 02, 2007

LOT 243

Silver ?Lever Chronometer Deck Watch ? Guillaume Balance? Patek, Philippe & Cie., Genève, No. 182716, case No. 626022, Ref. 739. The movement made in 1914, cased in 1941, sold on March 24, 1942. Very fine and rare, keyless, silver deck lever chronometer with Guillaume balance. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

HKD 50,000 - 70,000

USD 6,500 - 9,000 / EUR 5,000 - 7,000

Sold: HKD 59,000

C. Four-body, "demi-bassine", solid, polished. Hinged silver cuvette. D. Matte silver with black champlevé Arabic numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds dial. Blued steel "spade" hands. M. Cal. 21''', rhodium-plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 21 jewels, wolf?s tooth winding, gold wheel train, straight-line lever escapement, anibal-brass Guillaume balance with gold and platinum timing screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, ?swan-neck? micrometer regulator. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 60 mm. Property of a Norwegian Collector


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image

Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent

Case: 3-9

Good

Scratched

Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 3-9-01

Good

Scratched

HANDS Original

Notes

A Patek Philippe deck watch from a small series of about 35, all destined for Obervatory trials. Only one example is known in gold.

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. At the end of the 1800's, Guillaume attempted to eliminate the so-called Middle Temperature Error caused by the fact that the change of rate in a timekeeper with a steelbrass bimetallic balance is approximately a 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 brass in bimetallic lamina, makes its expansion close to quadratic. Balances with bi-metallic 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.