Patek Philippe’s reference 130 is one of the firm’s best-known vintage chronograph models and chronographs of the 20th century enjoy such iconic status amongst scholars and collectors as reference 130 does.
In the 1920s, Patek Philippe noticed a surge in the demand for chronograph wristwatches. At the beginning, some very small series and unique pieces were made, mostly powered by a Victorin Piguet ébauche, but by the 1930s it was clear that a serially produced model was necessary to satisfy demand. So it was then that reference 130, the first serially produced Patek Philippe chronograph, saw the light of day. Launched in 1934, it is powered by a heavily modified Valjoux movement, cal. 13 130, as the 13 lignes movement was to be housed in the reference 130 case (as a matter of fact, only a few examples made before 1936 feature a different movement). The model was extremely successful and remained in production at least until 1964, and albeit it was manufactured for close to 30 years, the output is very limited, totaling about 1500 pieces. It was produced in yellow gold, pink gold and stainless steel (other metals have been used for special request pieces), with the steel version being the rarest as less than 90 are known.
Amongst the steel models less than 20 are known with Roman numerals and dot indexes like the present example.
The rarity of the steel version is explained by the fact the Patek Philippe traditionally was - as it now - a high-end luxury brand, thus most of their clients opted for the more luxurious gold version, with the consequence of making the steel version the most scarce and thus, today, the most collectible.
The rarity of stainless steel reference 130 is however only part of its appeal. It is undeniable that the looks of the model are extremely elegant, and at the same time robust and sporty. This is due to a slightly different case design with the steel version having shorter and thicker lugs than the gold counterpart. In fact, creating a steel case is a completely different task than creating a gold case. The difference is so important that Patek Philippe actually used two different case suppliers: Vichet for gold cases, and Wenger for steel case.
Beyond the stainless steel case, the present watch also features an extremely appealing dial. This model came with a variety of dial variations: from Arabic numerals, to Roman numerals, to Breguet numerals, passing by baton indexes (short or long), black dials, sector dials. It would in fact appear that the present dial configuration, featuring Roman numerals at 12 and 6, and dot indexes for the remaining hours, is a rare combination.
