Swiss 18 carat gold and enamel keyless lever watch Circa 1969

Gold watch with unique enamel miniature by Patek Philippe
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An extremely fine and unique Swiss 18 carat gold and enamel open faced keyless lever dress watch, circa 1969. Sold on August 11th, 1975. Rhodium-plated movement, Geneva Striping decoration, stamped twice with the Seal of the Geneva quality mark, 18 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to heat, cold isochronisms and five positions, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator. Matte silver dial with applied gold faceted baton indexes, outer engraved dot minute divisions, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and gold dauphine hands. A polished case, the back is decorated with a polychrome enamel miniature of flowers including peonies. Dial, case and movement signed, the enamel signed J. Pellarin-Leroy, case and movement numbered. Comes with an Extract from the Archives.
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Diameter: 47 mm
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Signed: Patek Philippe Genève
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The enamel miniature by J. Pellarin-Leroy is extremely well executed in beautiful pastel shades. Along with Suzanne Rohr and M. Bischoff, Pellarin-Leroy was one of the finest enamellists working for Patek Philippe in the second half of the 20th century, her work is very sought after by collectors and she was also one of the artists who was entrusted to make the enamel panels for the solar dome clocks. Interestingly, the case backs of the unique enamel watches by Patek Philippe are of very heavy-gauge gold. This is to provide a very solid base for the enamel during the several firings required at very high temperatures, the thickness of the gold reduced the incidences of damage occurring during firing as the gold was less likely to warp than a gold of thinner gauge. The thicker gold back also eliminates the need for a counter-enamel on the interior.
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On May 1st, 1839 the Polish businessman and aristocrat Antoine Norbert Count de Patek and the Polish watchmaker Franciszek Czapek founded a company in Geneva named Patek, 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 15^th, 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 1^st, 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 1^st, 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 11^th, 2014, it was auctioned again and this time it was sold for 19 million euros. On the occasion of the 150^th-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).