Unique Swiss 18K white gold complicated lever watch Circa 1972

White gold complicated watch by Patek Philippe
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A unique, custom made Swiss 18 carat white gold open faced minute repeating lever pocket watch with a linear calendar and moon phases, circa 1972. Retailed by Beyer in Zurich, Switzerland. The rhodium plated bridge precision movement with 29 jewels and Geneva striping decoration, a Swiss anchor escapement with balance anchor, compensation balance, Breguet hairspring, an escape wheel with a capstone, a swan neck fine adjustment and wolf tooth winding wheels, repeating the minutes on two gongs with two hammers, an all-or-nothing mechanism for the repeater, striking triggered by a slide on the right side of the case.

Silvered dial with applied hour indexes, minute divisions, an aperture showing the months of the year, date and days of the week at 12 o’clock, subsidiary seconds with concentric phases of the moon at 6 and dauphine hands. The flat, brushed, elaborately stepped case was made by the well-known case maker Antoine Gerlach in Geneva, engraved monogram HH on the back. Dial signed by the watchmaker and retailer, case and movement signed by the watchmaker and numbered. Comes with a certificate, an instruction manual, the purchase invoice, a report from the retailer from 1974, the original white gold watch chain and a presentation box.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Total weight: 123 g
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Signed: Patek, Philippe & Co Genève Swiss
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In 1972, this timepiece was made at the customer’s request by the oldest specialist shop in Switzerland, Beyer Chronometrie, Zurich. The days of the week and months of the year are indicated in German, making this a truly unique watch. It is one of only two examples of this model in white gold. The only other known example was sold by Sotheby’s in Geneva, May 2016 for 424.800 euro. 
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The linear digital calendar or so-called American (perpetual) calendar is a calendar in which the date is displayed in a single linear aperture, allowing for a legible dial to be read at a glance. This type of display was invented in the early Art Deco period and is most often found in watches destined for the Anglo-American market. This kind of calendar became popular once again after the Second World War.
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Czapek & Cie. Czapek lived in Switzerland since 1832 and changed his name to François Czapek when he became nationalized. The company ran well but each went their own way in 1844 and set up their own company: Czapek & Cie which continued till 1869 and Patek & Cie.

1844 Patek met the French watchmaker Jean-Adrien Philippe at the Paris World’s Fair. Philippe had already enriched the watch’s history with one of its most revolutionary inventions: the crown winding. Since then watches needed no longer to be wound with an additional key, but both the winding and the time adjustment of the hands could now be performed much easier by the crown. On May 15th, 1845 Jean-Adrien Philippe and Vincent Gostkowski entered the company. In the same year, a patent for a watch with a winding stem and hand adjustment mechanism was applied. They produced the first watch with a minute repeater. On January 1st, 1851 the company’s name was changed to Patek, Philippe & Cie. In 1881, a patent for a precision adjustment was applied by Philippe.

On February 1st, 1901 Patek, Philippe & Cie was converted into a stock corporation and renamed Ancienne Manufacture d’Horlogerie Patek, Philippe & Cie S.A. A patent for a double chronograph was applied in 1902. The company continues through significant inventions, which are highly regarded. In 1932, Patek Philippe was taken over by Charles and Jean Stern, after which the company name changed to Patek Philippe S.A. Thierry Stern (fourth generation) took office in 2009 as president. The company has 70 patents and produces the entire clockwork in-house. Their luxurious timepieces are of high quality and therefore often raise record amounts at auctions. A pocket watch produced in 1933 was sold at auction for 11 million euros in 1999. A world record at that time. On November 11th, 2014, it was auctioned again and this time it was sold for 19 million euros. On the occasion of the 150th-anniversary celebration in 1989, the legendary Calibre 89 is presented, which took nine years to develop. With 33 complications and 1728 components, this watch is regarded as a pocket watch of superlatives. Both dials together it has 24 hands and 12 dials, in addition, a minute repeater with a large and small carillion, an alarm function, a tourbillon, a perpetual calendar, a split-second chronograph movement and over 20 other complications. The most complicated pocket watch movement at all.

Patek Philippe, together with Audemars Piguet (1875), Vacheron Constantin (1755) and A. Lange und Söhne (1845) is considered to be ‘the big four’ in the watchmaking world. Today it is one of the few still independent watch companies. The company is also the only Geneva manufacturer, whose entire production of mechanical watch movements is awarded with the Geneva Seal (Poinçon de Genève).