In an era of technological advances and supercomputing, it is at times a rewarding activity to slow one’s pace and reflect on the past. In the world of horology, the pocket watch is the perfect timepiece to settle upon, for it has both a long and rich history reaching back to the late 15th century, and is a technical marvel from which the modern wristwatch evolved. Patek Philippe’s reference 880 is a wonderful example of a complicated pocket watch that is well situated in the 20th century, but manufactured from a long line of important and rare timepieces. Manufactured during the 1980s, it is a rare example of a pocket watch produced at a time when Swiss watch making was under threat from the quartz movement crisis, and a growing consumer base looking not for classic gold dress watches, but rather stainless steel luxury models that moved easily from the sports arena to the boardroom.

Complicated pocket watches such as this minute repeating perpetual calendar open face watch have a clean aesthetic with a modern flare. Each of the subsidiary dials are combined with a function so that a red 24-hour indication is seen with days of the week, the months of the year feature a red leap year indicator, and the red constant seconds are combined with the date. The look is clean, crisp and undeniably post mid-20th century. The present watch from a private Swiss collection is in lovely original condition, and possibly has remained unpolished over the last 30 years, with a repeat mechanism that has a pleasant tone. Today, wristwatches are king in the international market place, but one is always best to remember the past, and this lovely pocket watch is a gem that is an excellent window into the traditional workmanship of a bygone era.