Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

New York, Dec 07, 2005

LOT 305

?Yellow Ref. 5004? Patek Philippe, Genève, No. 879502, case No. 2963333, Ref. 5004, first generation. Made circa 2000. Extremely fine, rare and important, astronomic, water-resistant, 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch with coaxial round button split-seconds chronograph, registers, perpetual calendar, moon phases and an 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe buckle. Accompanied by an Extract from the Archives, setting pin and an additional 18K yellow gold case back.

USD 100,000 - 130,000

EUR 85,000 - 110,000

Sold: USD 126,000

C. Three-body, solid, polished, concave bezel, fluted lugs, coaxial push button in the crown for the split-seconds function, transparent case back to view the movement, sapphire crystals. D. Matte silver with applied large yellow gold Arabic numerals, subsidiary dials for the 30-minute register and leap year at 3, the seconds and the 24 hours at 9, graduation for the days of the month at 6, apertures for the days of the week, the months and the moon phases. Yellow gold "feuille" hands. M. Cal. CHR 2-70/150, stamped with the Geneva Quality Hallmark, rhodium plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 28 jewels, straight line lever escapement, Gyromax balance, shock-absorber, selfcompensating free-sprung Breguet balance-spring. Dial and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness: 15 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 1-01

As new

HANDS Original

Notes

Ref. 5004 First produced in 1995, this highly complicated, manually wound wristwatch combines a split-seconds chronograph with the functions of the perpetual calendar and moon phase. The movement consists of a total of 404 parts. What is a split-seconds chronograph? A split-seconds chronograph or "rattrapante" is a type of chronograph watch with 2 coaxial superimposed center- seconds hands that are controlled by 2 push buttons. One push button controls the split-seconds hand to stop or join the chronograph hand. The other push-button controls both hands and the start / stop functions of the chronograph, while a third button will reset everything to zero. The chronograph hand and the splitseconds hand are used for timing several events that start simultaneously, but are of different durations. To operate the split-seconds chronograph, both hands are started and remain superimposed. Then at the end of the first duration, the split-seconds hand can be stopped, while the chronograph hand continues to move. The duration of the first event can be read. After recording, the split-seconds hand can be released to instantly move and join the chronograph hand, synchronizing with it and thus being ready for another recording. At the end of each event the hands then can be stopped and returned to zero. The split-seconds chronograph, in its present form, was introduced in 1880. Splitseconds chronograph wristwatches came on the market circa 1922 by Patek Philippe the first known wristwatch of this kind was Patek Philippe o. 124824, case no. 235326, which was sold by Antiquorum as lot 448 on ovember 14, 1999 for US $1,918,387, which was at the time the highest price ever realized for a wristwatch at auction. This timepiece appeared 5 years prior to the official release of the split-seconds chronograph, making Patek Philippe the first manufacture to create this complication in a wristwatch. As they require a highly complicated and technical mechanism, these watches are desirable, very collectible and extremely difficult to produce, accounting for their rarity