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Lot Essay
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch with enamel dial and Breguet numerals in 1899 and its subsequent sale on 25 June 1900. The Extract further states that the movement was originally sold without case.
The present watch not only stands out by virtue of its complication, being a split seconds chronograph, but is also highly unusual as it is featuring a 12 hour-register and not the usual 60 minutes register. Only very few Patek Philippe watches display such a dial and all of them were made by special request. Today only one similar watch is known, carrying the retailer's name Spaulding & Co. on the dial and currently in the possession of the Patek Philippe Museum.
At present only about 160 pocket watches with split chronograph seconds function have made it back to the market or can be found in various publications. Half of those watches display registers. The prestigious Geneva maker made about 900 such movements. It was actually the American market, which first demanded the split-seconds feature. This feature was mainly used for industrial (railways) or sports (horse racing) purposes. Some of the split second chronograph watches even have a repeating device, especially those made for either Tiffany, Bayley Banks & Biddle, Spaulding or Shreve.
A split-seconds chronograph with 12-hours register is illustrated in Patek Philippe Pocket Watches by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, 1982 edition, page 19. A patent dated 1902 for a split feature is published in the same book page 58, fig. 51.
The present watch not only stands out by virtue of its complication, being a split seconds chronograph, but is also highly unusual as it is featuring a 12 hour-register and not the usual 60 minutes register. Only very few Patek Philippe watches display such a dial and all of them were made by special request. Today only one similar watch is known, carrying the retailer's name Spaulding & Co. on the dial and currently in the possession of the Patek Philippe Museum.
At present only about 160 pocket watches with split chronograph seconds function have made it back to the market or can be found in various publications. Half of those watches display registers. The prestigious Geneva maker made about 900 such movements. It was actually the American market, which first demanded the split-seconds feature. This feature was mainly used for industrial (railways) or sports (horse racing) purposes. Some of the split second chronograph watches even have a repeating device, especially those made for either Tiffany, Bayley Banks & Biddle, Spaulding or Shreve.
A split-seconds chronograph with 12-hours register is illustrated in Patek Philippe Pocket Watches by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, 1982 edition, page 19. A patent dated 1902 for a split feature is published in the same book page 58, fig. 51.
