Patek Philippe

The Patek Philippe Reference 96 was the first watch released by Jean and Henri Stern following their acquisition of the brand in 1932. For over forty years, this timepiece remained in production and became one of the most popular models ever offered by the Geneva-based manufacturer.

Traditionally, examples of this timepiece cased in platinum feature diamond-set indexes on their dials. To date, only a handful of such pieces have come to market possessing this combination. One of these sold in the prestigious 2012 single owner sale held by Sotheby's, ‘Watches from the Collection of the Late Reginald H. Fullerton, Jr. and his Grandfather Henry Graves Jr.’.

The second, originally sold by Sotheby’s on June 11^th, 2015 in the ‘Important Watches’ sale is the sister watch to the current lot. That example was numbered 727'580 on its movement, just 35 pieces away from the current watch offered.

The present lot was given to the first co-recipient of the Knudsen award – one of Denmark’s most prestigious scientific prizes in honor of Carl Holst-Knudsen—in its inaugural year and is inscribed, 'W.C. Rapp. Knudsen Award 1958.’. Like the previous example, the current lot was manufactured in 1956 and is accompanied by an Extract from the Archives confirming its date of sale on April 28, 1958. The watch is fresh to the market and comes from the family of the original owner.