



190
Patek Philippe
"Extra Quality"
A fine yellow gold openface watch with enamel dial, power reserve and Guillaume balance, awarded Second Prize at the Geneva Observatory trials in 1926
Full-Cataloguing
For the Geneva Astronomical Observatory contest, the manufacturers would prepare watches for their competitive trials, testing and breaking new ground on chronometry.
The present watch, having won second prize in the Concours de l'Observatoire Astronomique, features a beautifully finished Guillaume Balance. Made of a steel and nickel alloy with anti-magnetic properties, it is unaffected by varying temperatures. It is an invention that enabled its inventor, Charles-Edouard Guillaume, to win the Nobel Prize for physics in 1920.
According to research, the registers of the Geneva Observatory state that this watch was presented at the 1927 contest where it achieved the second prize with 771 points. It had been prepared and adjusted by the master precision adjuster F. Moudoux.
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.