$120,500
Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, "World Time", No. 929576, case No. 647132, Ref. 1415 HU (Heures Universelles). Production of this reference started in 1939. Accompanied by an Extract from the Archives. Exceptionally fine and rare, 18K pink gold gentleman's wristwatch with an 18K pink gold Patek Philippe buckle. Three-body, solid, polished and brushed, revolving and reeded bezel hand-engraved with the names of 31 major cities in the world, teardrop lugs. Matte silver with applied pink gold indexes and Roman numerals, surrounded by a revolving dial in 24 hours for the diurnal and nocturnal hours. Pink gold "fancy" hands. Notes Patek Philippe "World Time" wristwatches are published in "Patek Philippe Wristwatches" by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, 1998, pp. 240 to 247. The "World Time" system This system was invented around 1935 by Louis Cottier 1894-1966, a famous independent watchmaker in Geneva. This "World Time" system is used by Patek Philippe and by other major names in the Swiss watch industry, such as Agassiz, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin. Patek Philippe created various series of "World Times" from 1937 to the mid-1960s: Ref. 515, a rectangular "galbé" pink gold model made in 1937, with the names of 28 cities in the world on the dial, the time differences between them based on Greenwich Mean Time. It is the earliest of the "World Time" pieces and only three examples are known today, one of which was sold by Antiquorum Geneva on April 10, 1994, lot 5
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-09-22
