Let me be very clear: The main reason for my attending Geneva this year was a double digit number called 96. Ref 96, the first Calatrava made by Patek Philippe.
Ref 96 is among the most important and iconic model lines ever made by Patek. Largely ignored today because of its small size at 31mm, this is one area of vintage watch collecting where the astute collector can make very good deals. I think the 96 is completely undervalued today despite it being important in watch history. The shape is pure and clean and aesthetically very pleasing. The ref 96 is an Icon of shape and function and takes its design cues from the Bauhaus movement, That of ‘Form following function’.
Antiquorum Swiss held a themed sale of the Calatrava with wonderful models. Allow me to go through some of the watches that caught my eye. I will then mention a few other Pateks that were interesting and comment on prices achieved.
We start with these two wonderful sector dial Ref 96. The one is steel was bought by a well known Japanese dealer, for a strong price of CHF 56’000. The gold one sold for CHF 31’000. I personally preferred the gold one but we all know that because of rarity of early steel Patek watches, they fetch stronger prices.
Let us take a look at the gold one more closely. It was a beautiful watch.
The bargain of the entire sale had to go to this unique dial for the Parisian retailer Guillermin Paris. It came with the original certificate! And sold for CHF 15’000. I inspected the watch it was in very fine condition with the hallmark clearly visible on the case.
I can surely add this watch to the many regrets I have of not bidding and following my instinct.
Next we move onto this black dial gold combination -very elegant regardless of reference. The black dial was confirmed by the Extract of archives.
It sold for CHF 15’000 which is in line with what others have sold for. Completely undervalued in my view. Let us take a closer look at the signature of the dial.
Notice the signature of this early Calatrava from 1938. Obviously the long signature with the ‘& co’ but look at the & sign. It seems it is an 8 with a little line attached. Later dials in the 1940s before the change of the long signature to short one – look a little bit different.
We move on to another model that I would not mind owning for a black tie on New Years eve. The 96 with diamonds.
A beautiful watch that sold for CHF 30’000. Again, for the rarity (this watch is cased in platinum!) and sheer luxury of the watch, completely undervalued! The watch is dated 1951 therefore the signature is shorter and only Patek Philippe.
This Beyer Zurich signed 96 Patek, was nice and original but shows its age (which I actually find appealing). I know the Beyer store in Zurich usually is interested in such pieces for their museum but they confirmed to me that they are not the buyers.
The last picture of Ref 96 shows a few 96 together. Simple, clean, pure and beautiful.
That is it for Ref 96. Allow me to show you some other Patek’s that interested me. I start off this beautiful Pink gold Ref 2597/1 dual time developed also by Cottier (who invented the world time for Patek).
This reference was made in two series, the second series only carrying the more useful second hour hand. The watch seemed in good overall condition. The only criticism I heard from the biggest Patek collectors out there was that this watch was ‘around the block’ and was known to the collecting community and not fresh to the market. Nonetheless a beautiful watch with strong hard enamel raised signature. Look at the picture below for the quality of this signature. The watch achieved a strong CHF 540’000 (above the high estimate of 500k).
Pink gold second series travel times are very rare and it seems already years ago that this watch was fetching CHF 400k or above.
Let us move on to another beautiful Patek that sold for quite a strong number (it hammered at CHF 350k) given its small size. The 1436 Split seconds chronograph.
My explanation for the strong result is based on two observations. 1) the watch itself was in quite good condition, with a strong case and nice dial. 2) I think the fact that the watch played a part in horse racing history (the watch has a derby winners name on the back) helped in my opinion. Asians love horse racing and the watch went to a collector based in Asia. I personally loved this watch and normally ‘1436’ remain completely undervalued given their limited production and complication.
One of the reason I love the 1436 more than the 1463, is because of the square pushers.
Notice the extra button integrated into the winding crown to activate the split second auction below. My dream 1436 would be without the extra button and just winding crown, like in this 1436 here*. It keeps the others from knowing that you own a fine split seconds Patek. Either way I would extremely happy with this watch too.
Let us see how the watch looks on the wrist? What a dream. I know many collectors ignore 33mm but I personally think it is the perfect size for a gentlemen. See below.
Let me briefly mention the wonderful Ref 565 with pink gold case and Serpico and Laino signature that I wrote about in my preview here.
The watch was very fine and I saw a large Patek collector bidding on the watch quite aggressively. He then dropped out and I believe was still the underbidder. The watch ended up selling for CHF 75k against a high estimate of CHF 100k. While I thought the watch was nice – in real it did not speak to me quite the same as on pictures and the story that comes with the watch. I still thought it was a very good buy for the collector who ended up buying it!
Last but not least – the top lot of the Phillips sale was the 2497 in white gold.
Less than 180 of the these perpetual calendars with centre seconds have been made in the 12 year period of production and only 3 are known in white gold. What makes this watch particularly noteworthy is the original white gold gay freres bracelet that came with the watch when it was sold in 1957 – all confirmed by the extract of archives. The bracelet was soft as butter. On a side note to the bracelet notice on the bottom top left of the bracelet is a little grove to help the collector more easily remove the bracelet. It is little details like this that make vintage watch collecting so satisfying.
Another detail I liked about the watch was the magnifying plexi on the date area, a feature many old Pateks have (I have seen it most often on 1518).
The 2497 is not my favourite perpetual calendar from Patek (that honour goes to the 3448) but it is growing on me. Another feature I adore is how the crown is integrated into the case. See below.
I simply had to try the watch on and feel the craftsmanship of the Gay freres bracelet. The watch felt majestic on the wrist and was the perfect size.
This Patek ended up selling in the middle of the estimate at CHF 2.2m. I could not help but think it was a little soft for this outstanding watch; that was described by Aurel Bacs as the ‘consolation prize for not getting the Steel 1518’.
(Picture credit: Bthinx for the steel Patek 1436).
