Patek Philippe & Co, Geneva, N° 198’052 Open-face keyless-winding pocket watch with minute-repeater on three gongs, Grande and Petite Sonnerie clock-watch, perpetual retrograde calendar with phases and age of the moon, power reserve indications - 1926-27. Delivered on March 5, 1928 to Tiffany & Co, New York, to be sold to Henry Graves Jr. (1868-1953), New York (U.S.A.).

PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM

The first floor (II) :

THE PATEK PHILIPPE COLLECTION

From 1839 to the present day

The wristwatch from 1860 to 1960
Long considered an exclusively feminine ornament, the wristwatch had to wait for the 1930s to oust the pocket watch from masculine favour. This seems rather surprising in view of the fact that it was issued to army officers during the First World War.

However, the interest in sports soon revealed its pratical assets, and what began as a fragile pocket watch with a strap somewhat awkwardly attached, gradually acquired greater resistance and a form that adapted well to changing lifestyles and fashions. Its popularity increased and, with the pocket watch now classed as old-fashioned, the wristwatch entered its golden age; from 1940 onwards, it made such rapid technical progress that by the 1960s it had become a fully-fledged symbol of our modern society.

The PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM traces the first century of the wristwatch's history through some 500 remarkable pieces, from the first Swiss wristwatch (a lady's bracelet watch created in 1968 and sold to the Countess Koscowicz in 1876, Inv. P-49) to the splendid men's split-second chronograph no. 868.331 with perpetual calendar and moon phases (1955, Inv. P-606). One of the earliest Calatrava watches is also presented: ref. 96 (1936, Inv. P-565). This exceptional selection will delight the keenest of connoisseurs.

Patek Philippe & Co, Geneva, N° 198’340, Ref. 570, Calatrava Gentleman’s minute-repeating wristwatch with perpetual calendar and phases of the moon - 1939. Delivered on June 21, 1939 to Guillermin & Cie, Paris (France).

Some thirty pieces in the PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM illustrate the first fifteen years of history's most eternally elegant timepiece- from reference no. 96 in steel, dated 1934 (Inv. P-952) to the platinum calibre 12'''-120 of 1941 (Inv. P-885), and including Calatrava ref. 570, of 1939, with minute repeater, perpetual calendar and moon phases (Inv. P-1065).

Universal time
One technological breakthrough always inspires another. In the nineteenth century, the progress in means of transport threw travellers into confusion. How was one to plan a trip when each point on the map told the time by its own relation to the sun? The railroad engineer, Standford Fleming, offered an answer by creating universal time and dividing the globe into twenty-four time zones, which were adopted by international authorities in 1884. This new partitioning posed a challenge for watchmakers, who set out to find a means of enabling their watches to indicate the time in at least two of the world's cities. Various unsuccessful attempts were made to incorporate two synchronised movements until, in 1935, the independent Geneva watchmaker, Louis Cottier, invented an ingenious device for displaying universal time. Patek Philippe then invited the inventor to participate in producing a long series of wristwatches indicating the time in every zone. These pieces are now amongst the most sought-after of collector's items.

About twenty pieces trace developments in Patek Philippe's " World Time " watches from 1937 to 1966: round or rectangular cases; cities engraved on the bezel or set on the dial; the addition of other horological complications etc. The display of universal time often inspired special decorative treatment, such as maps or mythological figures symbolising travel. Some of the pieces thus have magnificent dials in polychrome cloisonné enamel, such as the many pocket watches, and reference 2523/1-HU of 1955 (Inv. P-1106), a prime target for collectors today.

Patek Philippe, the master of complications
As the creator of the fabulous Calibre 89, Patek Philippe is the acknowledged master of the complicated timepiece, the supreme test of horological skill. It has won its leadership by the constant search for complexity, of which the Museum provides ample proof. Always poised to sieze the next formidable challenge (c.f. " Henry Graves Jr. versus James Ward Packard "), the Geneva firm has acquired unparalleled mastery of time, leading to a list of almost seventy patents for inventions, and enabling it to use the widest range of horological functions in the most daring combinations. This exceptional expertise was behind one of the twentieth century's greatest horological feats: the restoring, in the 1970s, and without a single piece of reference, of the Grande Complication sold in 1910 to the Duke of Regla, and sadly damaged at the hands of an anyonymous watchmaker-repairer, who appears to have been more suited to the blacksmith's profession.

A hunter-cased, stem-winding pocket watch with minute repeater and Grand and Small Strike with Westminster chime on five gongs, the timepiece acquired by the third Duke of Regla (1909, Inv. P-534) is undoubtedly one of the most impressive pieces shown in this category, together with the Calibre 89, the Packard and the Graves watches. It nevertheless has other illustrious neighbours, such as the enchanting minute repeater belonging to the poet, Anna de Noailles (1894, Inv. P-128) and a remarkable pocket watch with minute repeater on three gongs, perpetual calendar with phases and age of the moon, double chronograph and alarm, built between 1921 and 1923 (Inv. P-822).

Henry Graves Jr versus James Ward Packard
Early twentieth-century America ushered in the industrial magnate. Whether he made his millions in steel, cars or oil, this new breed of business tycoon invested his dollars in a luxurious lifestyle where the objet d'art had pride of place. For this seeker after beauty, who was often a keen collector, the fine watch represented all that was desirable in exterior signs of refinement. In the first part of the century, it became the stakes of one of the most captivatng duels in watchmaking history. The mysterious New York financier, Henry Graves Junior, and the famous automotive engineer, James Ward packard, each commissioned Patek Philippe to create for him the timepiece with the greatest possible number of complications. The Geneva firm took up the challenge and created, at a few years' interval, the two most complicated watches in the world. The " Graves " watch, with its twenty-four complications, was completed in 1933, after six years' research, and supplanted the " Packard " created in 1916 and already comprising sixteen horological functions.

Amongst its horological treasures, which include an elegant tonneau-shaped minute repeater created for Henry Graves Jr (1929, Inv. P-650), the PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM presents the most fascinating of the thirteen complicated watches commissioned by James Ward Packard from 1900 to 1927. This exceptional stem-winding pocket watch combines ten horological complications: a minute repeater on three gongs, a perpetual calendar with phases and age of the moon, indication of sunrise and sunset, equation of time, and a magnificent celestial chart in blue enamel, depicting the movements of over 500 stars as they would appear in the sky above Packard's home near Warren in Ohio (1927, Inv. P-704).

The Calibre 89
The world's most complicated portable timepiece, the Calibre 89 (1989, Inv. P-1989) was created for the firm's 150th anniversary. With its thirty-three functions and 1,728 distinct parts, it surpasses those other most complex jewels of watchmaking history, the Leroy 01, (Leroy, 1904), the Packard (Patek Philippe, 1927) and the Graves watch (Patek Philippe, 1933). Nine years' research was required to bring the three main types of complication (the calendar, the chronograph and the striking mechanism) to unprecedented levels of performance and combine them with the most extraordinary of the astronomical complications, including the date of Easter, sidereal time, the equation of time and a superb celestial chart with 2,800 stars. The Calibre 89 is the greatest horological masterpiece ever created and it appears in all its splendour in the PATEK PHILIPPE MUSEUM.

Enamelling in the second half of the twentieth century
As the committed guardian of Genevan horology, Patek Philippe perpetuates all the traditional decorative arts associated with fine watchmaking. It thus protects rare skills that would otherwise be in danger of vanishing for ever. The firm employs the few remaining engravers (about a dozen) and miniaturists on enamel (a handful) still practising their exacting disciplines. The arts of fire, such as cloisonné and champlevé enamelling and miniature painting on enamel, play an essential role in Patek Philippe's production, now as ever.

Dials in cloisonné enamel
Patek Philippe's current collection of domed table clocks in cloisonné enamel are modern examples of a technique that dates back thousands of years; a technique that was also put to exuberant use in the colourful, highly personal dials of wristwatches in the 1950s.

Maps, landscapes, personalities and sporting scenes: the dials of 1950s watches dazzle by the colours emprisoned in the partitions (cloisons) created by fine gold wire. The luxuriant Palm Trees provides a stunning example (1959, P-824) as do the subtle shades of Eurasia (1959, Inv. P-675).

The miniature painting on enamel
Today, artists able to perpetuate the supremely exacting art of miniature painting on enamel can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Suzanne Rohr, one of the last artists to master this great Genevan tradition, reserves her talent for Patek Philippe, who have entrusted her with the creation of up to three pocket watches a year, since the 1960s. In her hands, the secret alchemy of the coloured enamels offers a second life, of unequalled depth and finesse, to some of the world's greatest art treasures.

Our enchanted voyage includes from Port of Dordrecht after Albert Cuyp (1965, Inv. P-132), Riverside, after Jean-Baptiste Corot (1976, Inv. P-258) and Sailing ships in a harbour under a stormy sky, after Eugène-Louis Boudin (1973, Inv. P-198).