55Σ︎
Patek Philippe
Ref. 2597
Travel Time, First Series
An innovative and elegant dual time zone “first series” yellow gold wristwatch with independent hour hand and extract from the archives
Full-Cataloguing
• Patek Philippe’s first dual time zone wristwatch
• Iconic caliber 12’’’400 HS designed by Louis Cottier
By the early 1950s, brands competed to make tool watches that had both commercial and recreational uses. The growth of global travel that began in the early years of the 20th century blossomed with the advent of jet travel in the 1950s and 1960s, and it was to these new globe trotters that brands sought to produce watches, which not only told time, but had a functional purpose when crossing multiple time zones.
Released in 1958, the reference 2597 was based on a Louis Cottier-designed prototype from 1953 with heures sautantes, or jumping hours. Cottier, an independent watchmaker, was known for his ingenious work on specialized timepieces from jumping digital hour watches, to aviators’ watches, and most notably his “World Time” mechanism from 1931. Over the span of almost 30 years, he delivered to Patek Philippe approximately 380 watch movements leading to some of the most sought-after timepieces of the 20th century, including the reference 1415 “World Time”, the reference 2523 - a two crown “World Time” watch with rotating world city ring on the dial, and the reference 2597 which came in two series.
The first series, like the present watch, featured one hour hand and two pushers on the left side of the case allowing for the hour hand to be quickly adjusted forward or backward. The second series, launched in 1962 added an additional hour hand. Scholarship tells us that the first version was made in approximately 100 pieces, with the vast majority cased in yellow gold.
Patek Philippe
Swiss | 1839Since its founding in 1839, this famous Geneva-based firm has been surprising its clientele with superbly crafted timepieces fitted with watchmaking's most prestigious complications. Traditional and conservative designs are found across Patek Philippe's watches made throughout their history — the utmost in understated elegance.
Well-known for the Graves Supercomplication — a highly complicated pocket watch that was the world’s most complicated watch for 50 years — this family-owned brand has earned a reputation of excellence around the world. Patek's complicated vintage watches hold the highest number of world records for results achieved at auction compared with any other brand. For collectors, key models include the reference 1518, the world's first serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph, and its successor, the reference 2499. Other famous models include perpetual calendars such as the ref. 1526, ref. 3448 and 3450, chronographs such as the reference 130, 530 and 1463, as well as reference 1436 and 1563 split seconds chronographs. Patek is also well-known for their classically styled, time-only "Calatrava" dress watches, and the "Nautilus," an iconic luxury sports watch first introduced in 1976 as the reference 3700 that is still in production today.