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Lot Essay
With Patek Philippe Certificat d'Origine et de Garantie issued in Geneva on 3 September 1945 confirming production of the present watch with radium hour markers. The Extract from the Archives states the sale of the watch on 3 April 1945 with silvered dial and yellow gold indexes.
It is interesting to note that the dial descriptions on the two documents differ: whereas the Extract states a silvered dial and yellow gold indexes, the Certificate of Origin confirms radium hour markers. This discrepancy may have resulted from the fact that the watch has indeed left the factory on 3 April 1945 with a "standard" dial version which, until its final sale on 3 September of the same year, was exchanged against the present "telephone" dial, certainly made to special order for the first owner.
Exhaustive research has resulted in the discovery that this watch is the only reference 96 fitted with such an avant-garde dial design known to date. The round luminous numerals, of larger size to 3, 9 and 12 o'clock, positioned on a black hard enamel inner sector ring render it a unique look unprecedented in Patek Philippe's line of vintage wristwatches.
Sold during the last days of World War II and fresh to the market, the present watch is a valuable complement to the collection of any aficionado of extraordinary timepieces.
It is interesting to note that the dial descriptions on the two documents differ: whereas the Extract states a silvered dial and yellow gold indexes, the Certificate of Origin confirms radium hour markers. This discrepancy may have resulted from the fact that the watch has indeed left the factory on 3 April 1945 with a "standard" dial version which, until its final sale on 3 September of the same year, was exchanged against the present "telephone" dial, certainly made to special order for the first owner.
Exhaustive research has resulted in the discovery that this watch is the only reference 96 fitted with such an avant-garde dial design known to date. The round luminous numerals, of larger size to 3, 9 and 12 o'clock, positioned on a black hard enamel inner sector ring render it a unique look unprecedented in Patek Philippe's line of vintage wristwatches.
Sold during the last days of World War II and fresh to the market, the present watch is a valuable complement to the collection of any aficionado of extraordinary timepieces.