32,200 CHF
Patek Philippe & Cie. , Genève, No. 124521, case No. 232524, made for Spaul-ding & Co, Paris, circa 1903. Very fine 18K gold keyless minute-repeating watch with split-seconds chronograph and 30-mi-nute register. Four-body, "bassine", triple-hinged, polished gold cuvette, chronograph blocking bolt at 11 o’clock. White enamel, Breguet numerals, outer minute track, outermost chronograph track with five-minute/seconds red Arabic markers, sunk minute register at 12 o’clock, subsidiary sunk seconds. Gold "Louis XV" hands. 38 mm. (17’’’) nickel, 39 jewels, straight line calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with blued steel Breguet balance spring, "swan-neck" micrometric regulator, chronograph and split seconds mechanisms on the back plate, repeating on gongs through activating slide in the band. Signed on the movement and case, dial and cuvette signed by the retailer. Diam. 47 mm. Notes Spaulding of Chicago was one of the finest jewelry stores in America. It possessed, as did most important jewelers, a Parisian branch. The present watch, of the highest quality available at the time, also features an unusual minute register mechanism. It is probable that Spaulding specially ordered this piece to impress their Parisian clientele. This watch comes from a small series of private-label watches made for Spaulding and other companies such as Tiffany, Bailey, Banks & Biddle, and Gondolo Laboriau.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2002-10-19
