Lot Essay
US$120,000-160,000
This watch is accompanied by the original Patek Philippe cardboard slip case, two Patek Philippe presentation boxes, one with winding carousel, and outer packaging, Certificate of Origin and a leather folder with instructions for the use of this watch and diagrams of the movement.
The Reference 5012
Following the sensation of the Star Caliber 2000, one of the most complicated pocket watches ever created and the Sky Moon Tourbillon, a Grand Complication wristwatch that embodies the horological innovation of its sister timepiece, Patek Philippe presents, in 2002, the Sky Moon Celestial wristwatch.
Encompassing all the astronomical indications of its predecessors with the same configuration of the nocturnal sky with the movement of the stars, the position of the moon, and its progressing phases within a lunar cycle, the Celestial wristwatch, nevertheless, differs in that it allows the wearer to admire the progression of the stars while observing the mean solar time on his wrist.
In order to achieve this, Patek Philippe devised a highly sophisticated and complex system whereby stacked discs, each turning at different speeds and creating a spellbinding sensation of depth, are employed.
These discs are protected by sapphire crystal glass with an ellipse on the inside that frames the sky visible above Geneva at any time of the day. A lunar day, a lunar cycle, and a sidereal day are of differing durations, and each in turn differs from mean solar time (24 hours, as displayed by the hands of a watch). The discs representing all these durations have to be driven by the base caliber - a feat of horological micro-mechanics. For this invention, which was developed for the Star Caliber 2000, Patek Philippe was awarded Swiss Patent CH 688 171 B5.
This watch is accompanied by the original Patek Philippe cardboard slip case, two Patek Philippe presentation boxes, one with winding carousel, and outer packaging, Certificate of Origin and a leather folder with instructions for the use of this watch and diagrams of the movement.
The Reference 5012
Following the sensation of the Star Caliber 2000, one of the most complicated pocket watches ever created and the Sky Moon Tourbillon, a Grand Complication wristwatch that embodies the horological innovation of its sister timepiece, Patek Philippe presents, in 2002, the Sky Moon Celestial wristwatch.
Encompassing all the astronomical indications of its predecessors with the same configuration of the nocturnal sky with the movement of the stars, the position of the moon, and its progressing phases within a lunar cycle, the Celestial wristwatch, nevertheless, differs in that it allows the wearer to admire the progression of the stars while observing the mean solar time on his wrist.
In order to achieve this, Patek Philippe devised a highly sophisticated and complex system whereby stacked discs, each turning at different speeds and creating a spellbinding sensation of depth, are employed.
These discs are protected by sapphire crystal glass with an ellipse on the inside that frames the sky visible above Geneva at any time of the day. A lunar day, a lunar cycle, and a sidereal day are of differing durations, and each in turn differs from mean solar time (24 hours, as displayed by the hands of a watch). The discs representing all these durations have to be driven by the base caliber - a feat of horological micro-mechanics. For this invention, which was developed for the Star Caliber 2000, Patek Philippe was awarded Swiss Patent CH 688 171 B5.