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Lot Essay
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch in 1871 and its subsequent sale on October 5th of the following year.
To the best of our knowledge this watch has never before been offered in public.
Newton Ebenezer Crittenden (1801-1872) opened the first jewelry store in Cleveland in 1826. His store, first occupying a humble brick one-story building in the center of town, became the center of a rapidly expanding city after the completion of the Eerie Canal in 1832. Visitors flocked to the store with free flowing cash as grain merchants pumped money into the booming city.
It is possible that John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) commissioned this watch as a gift to celebrate the founding of Standard Oil in Cleveland in 1870. Mr. Crittenden's close relationship with Patek Philippe and with the Rockefeller family suggest that this watch may have been a gift to celebrate the early years of what was soon to become the world's largest multi-national company, making John D. Rockefeller the richest man in the world, and Cleveland one of the most important cities in the world in the 19th century.
To the best of our knowledge this watch has never before been offered in public.
Newton Ebenezer Crittenden (1801-1872) opened the first jewelry store in Cleveland in 1826. His store, first occupying a humble brick one-story building in the center of town, became the center of a rapidly expanding city after the completion of the Eerie Canal in 1832. Visitors flocked to the store with free flowing cash as grain merchants pumped money into the booming city.
It is possible that John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) commissioned this watch as a gift to celebrate the founding of Standard Oil in Cleveland in 1870. Mr. Crittenden's close relationship with Patek Philippe and with the Rockefeller family suggest that this watch may have been a gift to celebrate the early years of what was soon to become the world's largest multi-national company, making John D. Rockefeller the richest man in the world, and Cleveland one of the most important cities in the world in the 19th century.