Christies on Sunday November 9th will be holding their Patek Philippe 175th Anniversary sale.
While there are many superb watches on offer including a single button split seconds chronograph, a beautiful second series 2499, a nice 530 with sector dial in steel, there only one watch that for me captures perfectly the essence of Patek Philippe.
A Patek ref 2523 Worldtime.
Patek stands for rarity, quality, complications, perfection and this world time wonderfully represents those attributes. World times from Patek are rarity in themselves, one with two crowns and rich blue enamel dial with a decent size of 35.5cm dial diameter is extremely rare.
There are few watches in my opinion that are perfectly proportioned, the 2499 is certainly one of them. But so is ref 2523- a world time with two crowns on both sides of the case. This gives the watch a perfect sense of balance. The warm gold case together with the rich blue enamel dial is highly attractive. I also think the lugs add to the interesting design of the watch. Last and perhaps more importantly: the movement.
Lets not forget this is a complication that was patented by Louis Cottier a master watchmaker (for more on Louis Cottier please see here), that made the first world time for Vacheron Constantin in form of a pocket watch back in 1930s (ref 3372). Initially not a success for Patek, today the early worldtime ref 2523 is extremely rare and sought after by collectors.
The estimate of CHF 1.5-2.5m reflects the rarity and quality of early Patek worldtimes. More information on the watch can be found here.
(Picture credit for Patek watch – Christies. Picture credit for the Vacheron: Sothebys. Credit for Louis Cottier: Oswaldo Patrizzi)
