Swiss gold repeating grande and petite sonnerie lever Circa 1895

Gold 32h power reserve minute repeater by Patek Philippe
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A heavy and historically interesting Swiss 18 carat gold open faced minute repeating grande and petite sonnerie lever pocket watch with 32-hour power reserve, circa 1895. Sold in 1897 to the Swedish watchmaker August Ericsson in St. Petersburg for 2,850 Swiss francs (which was an enormous amount of money at the time) and remained in the property of the Ericsson family ever since. Quality extra divided 2/3 plate movement, two hammers, two gongs, gold screwed compensation balance. Plain case, two levers for grande or petite sonnerie and silence. Dial signed, movement signed and numbered, case numbered. Comes with a receipt of a revision recently carried out by Patek Philippe in Genève for 10,888 euros and a certificate issued by Patek Philippe in 1959, giving details on the history of the watch.
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Diameter: 60 mm
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Weight: 173 g
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Signed: Patek, Philippe & Cie Genève
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When Ericson acquired the watch, he had been living in St. Petersburg for over 30 years and had established a successful watch and clock shop. He delivered to the Russian imperial family as well as to the Russian navy. After August’s death in 1915, the watch was passed on to his son Alexander and has been passed down the generations since then. According to the family, August Ericsson had a new case made in later years.
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The repeater is released very easily by only a quick touch of the lateral slide, as the slide is not needed to cock the mechanism, that is done by the crown, which winds the repeater mechanism in one direction while turning it in the other direction winds the movement of the watch as usual. Winding the watch simultaneously sets the power reserve indicator, which is an extremely rare feature in a Patek Philippe timepiece.
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The letter from Patek Philippe dating from 1959 states: “The watch was sold to your father in 1897 for 2,850 francs, which was a considerable sum at the time. We cannot give you an exact estimate as to its current value due to the fact, that such pieces very rarely come on the market today and are generally not in demand. However, the current insurable value insurance value should be approximately 6,000 to 8,000 francs.” According to the official exchange rate for German marks and Swiss francs in 1960, this came to an amount between 5.8 and 7.7 million marks (100 Swiss francs = 96.564 marks).