Swiss gold minute repeating lever pocket watch Circa 1912

Gold keyless open faced lever
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A rare Swiss 18 carat yellow gold open faced minute repeating keyless pocket watch, circa 1912. Sold on January 14th, 1918. A polished case, gold hinged cuvette with inscription, engine turned case back with engraved initials. White enamel dial with painted Breguet numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary sunk seconds and yellow gold spade hands. Nickel movement, Geneva striping decoration, 31 jewels, straight line counterpoised lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs by activating slide in the band. Dial, case and movement signed.
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Signed: Patek, Philippe & Cie  Geneva
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Accompanied by an Extract from the Archives
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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, Philippe applied for a patent for precision adjustment. 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), who took office in 2009 as president.
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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, to 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.
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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).