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Lot Essay
Patek Philippe’s early 20th century tourbillon watches for Observatory Contest are by their very nature among the very best precision timepieces ever made. Their prime purpose was to win prizes and accolades at the Observatory timing contests. The prestige conferred by obtaining consistent Observatory prizes was considerable, as a result, the company’s proven track record in making and adjusting watches to extremely fine tolerances resulted in greater commercial success for the brand as a whole.
In the 1980s, Patek Philippe decided to use a small number of these exceptional historic high-precision movements to create a handful of very special watches to be offered only to their most favoured clients. The present unique ref. 944/1 therefore represents a very rare opportunity for collectors to obtain a most impressive and historic Patek Philippe Observatory tested tourbillon.
The movement of this watch was produced by Patek Philippe between 1924 and 1930. It was awarded several prizes in Category A at the Geneva Astronomical Observatory competition after 44 days of testing, including first prizes with 813 points in 1933 and with 803 points in 1937. Hector Golay produced the tourbillon carriage, and François Modoux regulated the watch for the competitions on both occasions.
Movement no. 197’914 is fitted with a Guillaume-type balance to reduce timekeeping errors caused by temperature fluctuation (middle temperature error). It was regulated for observatory trial by one of Patek Philippe's most famous régleurs, François Modoux, who, along with Henri Wehrli, was responsible for the regulation of most of the watches made by Patek Philippe for the legendary and exacting watch enthusiast Henry Graves Jr. The régleurs were the highest paid workers in the watch industry because success in Observatory trials conferred reputation and prestige on the brand and therefore greater commercial success. The régleurs at Patek Philippe were regarded as the crème de la crème of the horological world.
The history of the present watch movement, no. 197’914, is likely to be the same as the very closely numbered watch no. 197’917, ref. 926/1, which was sold by Christie’s Geneva, 14 May 2018, lot 44. The background of that watch was personally confirmed to Theodore Beyer in May 1989 by Philippe Stern himself, then Vice-President of Patek Philippe. These Observatory competition movements were, due to the economic crash and the following Great Depression, never cased and remained the property of Patek Philippe.
For the following decades, the movements remained in Patek Philippe’s safe until, in 1984, it was decided to finish and case a small number of such historic and important watches including the present watch. The watches were highly finished and engraved with the technical details and fitted into superb and very heavy gold cases and provided with beautiful matte silvered dials with perfectly proportioned Breguet numerals accompanied by the appropriate antique style blued steel hands. Both watches were sold in 1989 and found their way into the world’s great collections.
This exceptional timepiece combines all aspects of the highest quality, making it a superb example for the demanding collector: uniqueness, one of the most prestigious complications, the tourbillon regulator, a state of the art gold case, provenance and full documentation.
The Tourbillon
On 10 November 1801, horological legend Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) received a patent for his ingenious tourbillon invention. Breguet designed the tourbillon (or whirlwind) to compensate for fluctuations and errors in time measurement caused by the position a watch is placed in. For example, watches with traditional movements may keep excellent time when resting on a desk horizontally, but when that same watch is placed vertically in a pocket, gravity affects the frequency or rate of the escapement) and thus its accuracy. Breguet's invention compensated for these gravitational effects by placing the escapement in a revolving carriage. As the tourbillon carriage revolves (usually one entire revolution per minute), its position constantly changes and consequently the fluctuations in rate caused by gravity are averaged out. Once a tourbillon watch is properly adjusted, the effects of gravity are essentially nullified, regardless of how it is positioned.
Precision timekeeping has always been vital to the scientific community, and in 1873, the first annual chronometer competition was held at the Geneva Astronomical Observatory. Rigorous quantitative internationally recognized testing standards were established. The testing, which initially lasted for 40 days, consisted of placing the watches in various positions and temperature conditions. The prestigious watchmakers Patek Philippe were awarded First Prize in the competition as early as 1884.
In the 1980s, Patek Philippe decided to use a small number of these exceptional historic high-precision movements to create a handful of very special watches to be offered only to their most favoured clients. The present unique ref. 944/1 therefore represents a very rare opportunity for collectors to obtain a most impressive and historic Patek Philippe Observatory tested tourbillon.
The movement of this watch was produced by Patek Philippe between 1924 and 1930. It was awarded several prizes in Category A at the Geneva Astronomical Observatory competition after 44 days of testing, including first prizes with 813 points in 1933 and with 803 points in 1937. Hector Golay produced the tourbillon carriage, and François Modoux regulated the watch for the competitions on both occasions.
Movement no. 197’914 is fitted with a Guillaume-type balance to reduce timekeeping errors caused by temperature fluctuation (middle temperature error). It was regulated for observatory trial by one of Patek Philippe's most famous régleurs, François Modoux, who, along with Henri Wehrli, was responsible for the regulation of most of the watches made by Patek Philippe for the legendary and exacting watch enthusiast Henry Graves Jr. The régleurs were the highest paid workers in the watch industry because success in Observatory trials conferred reputation and prestige on the brand and therefore greater commercial success. The régleurs at Patek Philippe were regarded as the crème de la crème of the horological world.
The history of the present watch movement, no. 197’914, is likely to be the same as the very closely numbered watch no. 197’917, ref. 926/1, which was sold by Christie’s Geneva, 14 May 2018, lot 44. The background of that watch was personally confirmed to Theodore Beyer in May 1989 by Philippe Stern himself, then Vice-President of Patek Philippe. These Observatory competition movements were, due to the economic crash and the following Great Depression, never cased and remained the property of Patek Philippe.
For the following decades, the movements remained in Patek Philippe’s safe until, in 1984, it was decided to finish and case a small number of such historic and important watches including the present watch. The watches were highly finished and engraved with the technical details and fitted into superb and very heavy gold cases and provided with beautiful matte silvered dials with perfectly proportioned Breguet numerals accompanied by the appropriate antique style blued steel hands. Both watches were sold in 1989 and found their way into the world’s great collections.
This exceptional timepiece combines all aspects of the highest quality, making it a superb example for the demanding collector: uniqueness, one of the most prestigious complications, the tourbillon regulator, a state of the art gold case, provenance and full documentation.
The Tourbillon
On 10 November 1801, horological legend Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) received a patent for his ingenious tourbillon invention. Breguet designed the tourbillon (or whirlwind) to compensate for fluctuations and errors in time measurement caused by the position a watch is placed in. For example, watches with traditional movements may keep excellent time when resting on a desk horizontally, but when that same watch is placed vertically in a pocket, gravity affects the frequency or rate of the escapement) and thus its accuracy. Breguet's invention compensated for these gravitational effects by placing the escapement in a revolving carriage. As the tourbillon carriage revolves (usually one entire revolution per minute), its position constantly changes and consequently the fluctuations in rate caused by gravity are averaged out. Once a tourbillon watch is properly adjusted, the effects of gravity are essentially nullified, regardless of how it is positioned.
Precision timekeeping has always been vital to the scientific community, and in 1873, the first annual chronometer competition was held at the Geneva Astronomical Observatory. Rigorous quantitative internationally recognized testing standards were established. The testing, which initially lasted for 40 days, consisted of placing the watches in various positions and temperature conditions. The prestigious watchmakers Patek Philippe were awarded First Prize in the competition as early as 1884.