A unique and unusual Patek Philippe complication watch, this timepiece combines a perpetual calendar with moon phases and single pusher chronograph. It is highly unusual to find this combination of complications in a Patek Philippe pocket watch without the additional function of minute repetition. Of particular note is the exceptional finishing of the movement and the fact that this watch was completed to chronometer standards. Complication, chronometer rated watches by Patek Philippe are very rarely found on the market and the Extract from the Archives confirms that this watch was awarded an honourable mention in the 1883 chronometer contest organized by the Société des Arts de Genève in 1883. During this period, the Geneva Observatory was owned, financed and managed by the Société des Arts de Genève. The watch was adjusted for the contest by the regulator, Beaufrère, and the watch achieved a score of 167.1 points.
Only one other watch with perpetual calendar and standard chronograph is currently known from the same period as the present watch; that watch, numbered 62’503 (sequentially that preceding the present lot), was produced in yellow gold. However, 62’503 is markedly different in appearance to the present watch and despite the similarities between the movements of the two watches, the calendar work is executed in a different fashion on each and the dial indications, except for the subsidiary seconds, have different placements; curiously, despite also being a perpetual calendar, the dial of 62’503 has no month indication to the dial and no moon phases. For an illustration of no.62’503 see: Christie’s Geneva, 11 May 2015, lot 201.
Another rare feature of the present watch is its use of a Crausaz balance. Crausaz & Fils were based in Geneva and produced high quality nonmagnetic balances as well as exceptional chronometer balances. Crausaz & Fils are particularly well-known for developing their own version of the Guillaume balance in the early 20th century.
Between 1862 and 1934 only 35 perpetual calendar watches are known to have been made by Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe first incorporated a perpetual calendar module into a watch in 1862 (watch no. 20’953), however, the watchmaker’s main patent for this important complication was not created until 1889. Dating to 1880, the present watch therefore dates to an interesting period following Patek Philippe’s first use of the perpetual calendar mechanism in a pocket watch, but before the watchmaker filed their first patent for this complication. Of the few perpetual calendar watches produced between 1862 and 1889, almost all differ from one another, serving to demonstrate the on-going research of the watchmaker during this key period. Indeed, this evolution is illustrated by the very different manner in which Patek Philippe executed nos. 62’503 and 62’504, two perpetual calendar chronograph watches that were both manufactured in 1880. The Extract from the Archives notes that the calendar mechanism in the present watch includes a detent, this refers to a small lever and spring that is designed to advance the calendar.
This very rare pink gold chronometer rated watch with pre-patent perpetual calendar, chronograph, Crausaz balance and original matching presentation case has only recently reemerged from the collection of a private European family. Given the importance of the perpetual calendar complication to Patek Philippe’s production, this re-discovered watch offers a rare opportunity to own a fascinating piece of the Genevan watchmaker’s historical production.
Sotheby's is grateful to Tortella & Sons for their support with the research of this watch.
