Swiss 18K gold lever with linear calendar and power reserve Circa 1921

Gold complicated minute repeater by Patek Philippe
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A Swiss 18 carat gold open faced minute repeating lever pocket watch with linear perpetual calendar and power reserve, circa 1921. Retailed by Tiffany & Co. in New York, U.S.A.  The lever movement with 31 jewels is adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and five positions. Matt silvered dial with applied gold baton hour indexes, an aperture at 12 o’clock for the so-called American perpetual calendar indicating the month, date and day of the week, power reserve indication at 6 and dauphine hands. A plain case with a snap-on back. Dial signed, case and movement signed and numbered. Comes with a Tiffany & Co. instructions paper, an Extract from the Archives confirming the production of this watch in 1921 and its date of sale on March 30th, 1960.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Signed: Patek, Philippe & Co Genève Swiss
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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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Reference 699-2.
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From the family of the original owner.
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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.
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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.