Important Collectors Wristwatches, P...
Hong Kong,the Ritz Carlton Hotel,harbour Room, 3rd Floor, Jun 02, 2007
LOT 302
?Yellow Ref. 5004? Patek Philippe, Genève, No. 879646, case No. 4007797, Ref. 5004, first generation. Made in 1997. 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.
HKD 1,000,000 - 1,400,000
USD 130,000 - 185,000 / EUR 100,000 - 140,000
Sold: HKD 1,283,000
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 Mark, rhodium plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 28 jewels, straight line lever escapement, Gyromax balance, shockabsorber, self-compensating free-sprung Breguet balance-spring. Dial and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness: 15 mm. Property of a Belgian Gentleman
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 3 |
Good |
Movement: 2 |
Very good |
Dial: 2-01 |
Very good HANDS Original |
Notes
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 co-axial 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 split-seconds 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 splitseconds 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. Split-seconds chronograph wristwatches came on the market circa 1922 by Patek Philippe the first known wristwatch of this kind was Patek Philippe No. 124824, case No. 235326, which was sold by Antiquorum as lot 448 on November 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 firm to create this complication in a wristwatch. As they require a highly complicated and technical mechanism, these watches are desirable. This makes them very collectible and extremely difficult to produce and also accounts for their rarity.