Lot Essay
with archive certificate confirming manufacture and sale for 12 July, 1948
Patek Philippe chronograph wristwatches were first produced in 1926 by a painstaking process that took up to a year to complete. Perpetual calendars, a separate horological endeavor, were being crafted in Patek's workshops in a similarly labor intensive process that ensured a very limited output.
This wristwatch, the model 1518, was the firm's first production watch that included both of these complicated features. Records from the Patek Philippe archives indicate that this watch was produced for only 13 years, from 1941 to 1954, in an extremely small quantity-- only 281 total were ever made.
In addition to the great rarity of the 1518 in general, this watch is exceptional for the preservation of its original crown and original gold buckle. The 1518 is the only perpetual calendar chronograph that used the famous Calatrava-style case.
Patek Philippe chronograph wristwatches were first produced in 1926 by a painstaking process that took up to a year to complete. Perpetual calendars, a separate horological endeavor, were being crafted in Patek's workshops in a similarly labor intensive process that ensured a very limited output.
This wristwatch, the model 1518, was the firm's first production watch that included both of these complicated features. Records from the Patek Philippe archives indicate that this watch was produced for only 13 years, from 1941 to 1954, in an extremely small quantity-- only 281 total were ever made.
In addition to the great rarity of the 1518 in general, this watch is exceptional for the preservation of its original crown and original gold buckle. The 1518 is the only perpetual calendar chronograph that used the famous Calatrava-style case.