Patek Philippe

18k, damascened nickel lever two-train movement (19 lignes secondes morte indépendante), jewelled to the centre, bi-metallic compensation balance, gold cuvette signed for the retailer and numbered, white enamel dial, Roman numerals, outer minute track, independent centre seconds, activated by a pusher in the band, blued steel hands, plain polished circular case, the front with aperture surrounded by enamel numerals, case, dial and movement signed, accompanied by an Extract from the Archives

The accompanying Extract from the Patek Philippe Archives confirms that this watch was manufactured in 1904 and sold on August 10th, 1910; the Extract further confirms the blue enamel numerals to the front cover.

The present lot is the only known half-hunting cased Patek Philippe watch with this complication. Incorporating two going trains, the movement of this watch is powered independently from the centre seconds hand. As a consequence, the centre seconds hand may be stopped independently from the movement train to allow the re-setting of the seconds; in this way, the timekeeping of the watch is not altered. The invention of the independent seconds watch is credited to Jean Moïse Pouzait (1753-1793). Pouzait was an outstanding horologist and just 23 years old when he presented an example of the mechanism to the Society of Arts in 1776. It is an especially important complication since it is seen as the precursor of the chronograph. Adrien Philippe's own dead seconds mechanism was registered as Swiss Patent 1017 on 23rd May 1889. Copies of patent drawings for the movement, together with discussions of the complication, can be found in Huber, M., Banbery, A, Patek Philippe, 1982, p.53, in the same book an illustration of a full hunting cased watch is shown on page 195.