Swiss gold lever with independent dead centre seconds Circa 1892

Gold hunting cased keyless pocket watch
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A very fine and very rare Swiss, 18K gold, hunting cased, two-train, keyless pocket watch with independent dead centre seconds, circa 1892. Sold in December 1905 to Verhagen & Co. Accompanied by the original Certificat d’Origine and a letter from Patek Philippe regarding this watch dated July 28, 1980, and by the Extract from the Archives. A polished case, activating push-button at 1 o’clock in the band. Hinged gold cuvette.
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White enamel dial, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track. Blued steel spade hands. A rhodium-plated movement, 27 jewels, straight-line counterpoised and calibrated lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold screws, blued steel Breguet balance spring, a flirt mounted on the last pinion of the independent dead seconds train engaging escape wheel pinion allowing one-second jumps, Philippe’s patented winding system. Dial, case and movement signed. Property of an Italian Gentleman.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: Patek, Philippe & Cie.  Genève
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The case is restored
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In the letter from Patek Philippe, dated July 28, 1980, it is stated that the present watch was open-faced and that the back was engraved with the initials EG. The case was upgraded to hunting-cased and the monogram was removed by Patek Philippe at the request of the former owner. 278 In 1776, in Geneva, Moise Pouzait invented the independent dead second’s mechanism in which the movement has two trains, one conventional, and the second with a sweep-seconds hand which can be stopped without stopping the main train. Adrien Philippe’s independent dead second’s mechanism differs radically from the conventional one based on Pouzait’s design.
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Philippe moved the entire independent train over the centre bridge, allowing more room for the going train and the balance, which is larger, resulting in better timekeeping. There are fewer than two dozen recorded independent dead seconds watches by Patek Philippe, including the very first ones made by Patek and Czapek. This watch incorporates Adrien Philippe’s two patents concerning tandem winding: the first, for a free, or slipping, the mainspring, patented on June 16, 1863, in France, and the second, for winding two mainsprings with one crown, Swiss patent No. 1017 of May 23, 1889.