Patek Philippe - The Geneva Watch Auction: X Geneva Saturday, November 9, 2019 | Phillips

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  • Manufacturer: Patek Philippe
    Year: Circa 2015
    Reference No: 5131R
    Movement No: 5'881'525
    Case No: 6'024'860
    Model Name: World Time
    Material: 18K pink gold
    Calibre: Automatic, cal. 240HU, 33 jewels, stamped with the Patek Philippe Seal
    Bracelet/Strap: Leather strap
    Clasp/Buckle: 18K pink gold Patek Philippe deployant clasp
    Dimensions: 40mm Diameter
    Signed: Case, bezel and movement signed
    Accessories: Accompanied by Patek Philippe Certificate of Origin stamped by Dallas retailer De Boulle, Inc and dated May 16, 2015, leather document holder, product literature, fitted presentation box and outer packaging

  • Catalogue Essay

    Patek Philippe's reference 5131 is a worthy heir to the long lineage of coveted worldtime watches the Geneva brand is famous for, and the first modern world time reference to be graced with the fabled cloisonné dial featuring geographic maps.

    World Time watches were invented, as is the case with most innovations, out of necessity. With the advent of the industrial age came the means necessary to facilitate global trade and travel and, as a direct result, there was a need for timekeeping devices capable of tracking time in multiple locations. The world time complication, other than being a useful one, is also a window into history. With the rise and fall of nations one capital replaced another as reference city for a specific timezone.

    Surprisingly, watchmakers did not immediately take the opportunity of creating worldtime watches based on the 24hour time zones set up by the International Meridian Conference of 1884. Was this due to the complexity of the mechanism, the lack of demand, national issues with the exact division of the time zones or the legendary Swiss neutrality (not wanting to put forward one nation by having its capital be the city of reference for that time zone)? Whatever the answer, worldtime watches as we know them today remained off the radar until the early 1930s and an invention by genius watchmaker Louis Cottier. It is around that period in 1930/1931 that Cottier designed a movement featuring a local time with hour and minute hands at center, linked to a rotating 24hour ring, and bordered by a fixed outer dial ring with the names of different cities inscribed on it. The city of choice (local time zone) was placed at the 12 o'clock position with the hours/minutes hand set at local time, the watch would then display the correct time in both hours and minutes, night and day, for every time zone in the world simultaneously, all the while allowing easy and accurate reading of local time, and all on a single dial.

    Patek Philippe was one of the first brands to embrace this new complication creating dials featuring beautifully crafted enamel maps of Asia, Americas, Oceana and Europe or exceptionally crafted guilloché centers. These vintage pieces dating from the 1950s are now among the most coveted timepieces in existence.

    The present lot, offered in unused condition and accompanied by its Certificate and accesories, features a graphic and colorful cloisonné enamel dial representing Asia and the Americas: this unusual configuration places the Pacific ocean at the center of the dial, rather than the Atlantic as usually found in (European/American) cartography.

  • Artist Biography

    Patek Philippe

    Swiss • 1839

    Since its founding in 1839, this famous Geneva-based firm has been surprising its clientele with superbly crafted timepieces fitted with watchmaking's most prestigious complications. Traditional and conservative designs are found across Patek Philippe's watches made throughout their history — the utmost in understated elegance.

    Well-known for the Graves Supercomplication — a highly complicated pocket watch that was the world’s most complicated watch for 50 years — this family-owned brand has earned a reputation of excellence around the world. Patek's complicated vintage watches hold the highest number of world records for results achieved at auction compared with any other brand. For collectors, key models include the reference 1518, the world's first serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph, and its successor, the reference 2499. Other famous models include perpetual calendars such as the ref. 1526, ref. 3448 and 3450, chronographs such as the reference 130, 530 and 1463, as well as reference 1436 and 1563 split seconds chronographs. Patek is also well-known for their classically styled, time-only "Calatrava" dress watches, and the "Nautilus," an iconic luxury sports watch first introduced in 1976 as the reference 3700 that is still in production today.

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Ref. 5131R
An extremely fine and very rare pink gold world time wristwatch with cloisonné enamel dial, Certificate and box

Circa 2015
40mm Diameter
Case, bezel and movement signed

Estimate
CHF70,000 - 140,000 
€65,700-131,000
$72,800-146,000

Sold for CHF93,750

Contact Specialist
Alexandre Ghotbi
Head of Watches, Continental Europe and the Middle East
+ 41 79 637 1724
aghotbi@phillips.com

The Geneva Watch Auction: X

Geneva Auction 9-10 November 2019