Swiss 18K gold hunting cased repeating lever watch Circa 1910

Gold minute repeating pocket watch by Patek Philippe
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An extremely fine and rare Swiss 18 carat gold hunting cased minute repeating lever pocket watch, circa 1910. Sold on May 3, 1911. Rhodium plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, 31 jewels, wolf’s tooth winding, counterpoised straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring with overcoil, swan neck micrometre regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide on the band. Gold-hinged cuvette. White enamel dial with Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds, and blued steel spade hands. Large and heavy polished case, the interior of the front cover with an engraved dedication. Dial, case, cuvette and movement signed, case and movement numbered. Accompanied by the original Patek Philippe mahogany fitted box, copy of the original Certificate of Origin, Extract from the Archives and spare mainspring.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: Patek, Philippe & Cie Genève
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This watch is a very good, large, heavy example of a Patek Philippe minute repeater. The dial is particularly beautiful with Breguet numerals; the case is extremely clean and crisp due to its protection by the original box.
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Minute Repeater. A minute repeating watch tells the time both visually and audibly. A slide on the side of the case, usually near the 9, will activate two hammers in the movement. These hammers strike two gongs curled within the case. First, one hammer strikes a gong of lower tonality; it counts out the hours. Then both hammers strike both gongs alternately to count out the quarter hours after that hour, and then the second hammer, alone striking a gong of higher tonality, counts out the minutes after that quarter-hour. Daniel Quare developed the repeating mechanism. In 1687, he patented a mechanism that sounded the hours and the quarter hours. Early repeaters used bells. At the end of the 18th century, two bent wire gongs became the more popular mechanism. In 1892, the first-minute repeater wristwatch was produced by Omega, a model with a round-shaped case.