Patek Philippe

Christie's, Geneva, November 2011, Lot 87

The present lot, lot 24, is a masterclass of craftmanship, engineering and design. Pocket watches, sometimes neglected in the current market , provide a fascinating insight into the history of watchmkaing and indeed a larger canvas by which one can observe the functions, complications and inner workings of a timekeeper.

It's dial, 45mm across, is crafted entirely of hard enamel providing a depth and congruity to the display. The enamel is not a crisp white, but a very muted off-white, which is much easier on the eye when reading, and reduces what could easily be a stark and uncomfortable contrast with the yellow gold case. This is a small but very important aesthetic choice - especially given the amount of data that this dial is relied upon to relay – and is testament to the experience of the craftsmen and their keen attention to detail evident in every component of this watch. The dial displays its abundance of information utilising four subsidiary dials at twelve, three, six and nine o’clock. At 12, through an aperture, a rotating disc of blue enamel and gold displays the moon’s phases, the moon itself indicating the age in relation to an Arabic track above it. Moving clockwise the next subsidiary indicates the month, the next the date (in red) and constant seconds combined, and lastly the day of the week. As a perpetual calendar these four subsidiary dials work in unison, automatically changing throughout the year accounting for months with 30 and 31 days and even calculating and adjusting for leap years. The time is read via yellow gold ‘Breguet’ hour and minute hands to which the former corresponds to black enamel hours in Roman Numerals, and the latter an outer Arabic minute track. Two further centrally set hands utilise this minute track, the chronograph hands. These hands, in blued steel, span almost the entire radius of the dial. When at zero they appear as a single hand and, indeed, by simply using the pusher integrated to the crown, they can time a single event. However, a pusher to the left of the stem stops one (the fly-back) hand independently of the other. Depressing this pusher a second time automatically resets the fly-back hand which ‘flies back’ to re-join the main chronograph hand. In this way, the split-seconds chronograph allows the user to time two events simultaneously.

While the dial deals with the visual elements of timekeeping the watch also features a minute repeating mechanism. A slide to the case band will activate the repetition where by two hammers will strike two gongs to sound the hours, quarter hours and the minutes thus providing the user with an audible representation of the time. Originally intended for use in dim light the complication stands to this day as one of the hardest to master for watchmakers and a coveted trophy for collectors.

Within, the movement works tirelessly storing energy to beat, to regulate, time, measure, calculate, chime and breathe life into the dial above. The creation of a machine that can so accurately perform that which is detailed, mechanically, is nothing short of a marvel. This is a realization made all the more impressive when one considers the time at which this watch was made and how much that environment would differ in comparison to a contemporary one.

The culmination of this work results in one of the most pleasing attributes of a pocket watch, and the one by which they most differ from their wrist adorning counterparts - the way they feel in the hand. To a layman it is a notion that some might find difficult to comprehend, but at its core, a watch must be as comfortable to wear in a pocket as it is to be held by its user. The size, shape and weight or the case dial and movement must align to eliminate awkwardness in the watch’s function while delivering sufficient, and perhaps most importantly, satisfying, heft. The open-faced yellow gold case of lot 24 certainly helps fulfills these criteria. At 54 mm in diameter, it sits very comfortably between one’s thumb and fingers and its simple design give the intricate workings and dial room to breathe. Together, it imbues the quality and significance of its craftsmanship and grants the user a confidence that only hard fought excellence can earn.

It is thought that approximately 250 pieces were created with this combination of complications with about 70 pieces having come back to public market, or having been identified in watch publications or museum collections.