PATEK PHILIPPE | A MASTER CLOCK SYSTEM - ELECTRONIC MODULE AND COMPUTIME, CIRCA 1970

During the 1950s and 1960s, after the dawning of the atomic age, the field of horology had to allow for the introduction of electronics. Patek Philippe, consistently striving to be at the head of timekeeping innovation, developed their first battery operated solid state clock during the early part of the 1960s. The clock system of these modules was designed to be constantly regulated by radio signals from the atomic clocks in the Parangins Observatory in Geneva. Single modules, such as the present lot, were often ordered by Kreutler in Germany; themselves specialists in master clock systems for industrial plants. This rare PC based system by Patek Philippe represents one of the most state of the art timing systems of its day. The master module can control almost an unlimited number of slave clocks. The Computime unit receives 77.5kHz radio signals and passes them to the master clock by means of an RS-232 port. The accuracy of time was exceptional, exhibition a margin of error +- 10 milliseconds.