Patek, Philippe & Co, Observatory Tourbillon

PATEK, PHILIPPE & CO, GENÈVE, MOVEMENT NO. 198312, CASE NO. 416885, CARRIAGE BY JAMES PELLATON, ADJUSTED FOR THE OBSERVATORY TRIAL, RECIPIENT OF THE FIRST CLASS PRIZE AT THE GENEVA 1929 OBSERVATORY TIMING COMPETITION, AND HONORABLE MENTION IN 1931 (F. MODOUX), MADE IN 1929, SOLD ON JULY 28, 1934
Exceptionally fine and very important, 18K yellow gold, keyless, “Extra” pocket chronometer with one-minute Tourbillon regulator, adjusted by master adjuster François Modoux, awarded First Prize at the Geneva Observatory Timing Contest of 1929, accompanied by an Extract from the Archives
It must be emphasized that Patek Philippe did not, as a rule, sell their Observatory Contest winning tourbillons. They kept them to resubmit. Out of roughly 100 tourbillons made by the company, approximately a dozen were sold. This is one of them. The watch won First Prize at 1929 Geneva Observatory Timing Contest (as discovered by Reinhard Meis, Le Tourbillon, Paris, 1990, p. 353) and an Honorable Mention two years later.
To truly appreciate this watch one must look at its details, those not seen by the naked eye. To win the first prize at the Geneva Observatory, it was not enough to make simply a good watch. It had to be exceptional. To describe all the small exceptional details of the watch would take more space than this description allows. Therefore, here are a few select examples: In typical tourbillons the regulator is left out because the space between the regulating pins negatively affects the isochronism. The watch is regulated once and for all by a master adjuster. In the case of this watch, the regulator was installed, but the gap between the pins was reduced to zero by a small screw pressing the outer pin against the balance spring (see photo). It is a perfect and very convenient system, provided the watch is not given to an unaware watchmaker. The regulator scale plate is gold. It was not necessary - just a statement that any extravagance is justified. The high number of teeth train is in gold to assure that the transmission is smooth and that oxidation does not occur. The jewels are of the highest quality rubies with convex lower sides to minimize friction.

HISTORY: Patek Philippe began its tourbillon production in the early 1860s. The earliest recorded Patek Philippe tourbillon, No. 25298, was made in 1864. Since then the company has made approximately 100 tourbillon regulators. Almost all were made for the Observatory Timing Contests. Most of them have not been sold. They were so important that the company kept them for the future contests, which is the reason why there are only around a dozen of them known to be in private hands. Most of them entered the Geneva Observatory competition, some the Royal Kew Observatory. They revolutionized the observatory competitions. As exemplified by the present watch, they are superb machines, exquisitely finished, with extreme attention paid to the details – the regulator pins are micrometrically adjusted to eliminate isochronism error, gold was used for the wheel train, the carriage is perfectly poised, the escape wheel is undercut to make it as light as possible to improve the safety of the drop and to decrease the resistance during the unlocking. Even the click for the mainspring’s ratchet wheel was doubled for the safety measures.
BIOGRAPHY: James C. Pellaton. The tourbillon carriage of the watch was made by James C. Pellaton, the most famous and gifted of the Swiss tourbillon makers of the 20th century, who was born in Le Locle in 1873. The son of Albert Pellaton-Favre (1834-1914), James apprenticed in the family’s atelier at Croixdes- Côtes next to Le Locle. In 1903 he entered the watch making school of Le Locle as “first master of escapement.” He was promoted to Deputy Director in 1920, and, while maintaining his scientific research, he was entrusted with all practical classes and was at the same time a professor in theory. In 1925, he became Director of the school at Le Locle. He maintained this position until his retirement in 1939. His unique skills as a teacher and his exceptional knowledge of horology created a reputation of excellence, innovation and perfection for the school. In addition, Pellaton published a manual for watchmakers in 1924 which was used in all Swiss horological schools. Privately, he dedicated his life to his personal passion, the development of tourbillons. In 1923, he constructed a tourbillon watch with a diameter of 23.7 mm; at the time, it was the smallest ever made. Today this watch is in the collection of the Museum of Horology in Le Locle.
François Modoux. Modoux was born in Geneva in 1887. While at the horological school in that city, he studied for five years, beginning with repassage and winding/setting mechanisms, and finally specialized in precision adjustment. Precision adjusters were aristocrats among watchmakers. Their salaries were about three times that of average watchmakers and their names were known to every watch professional in the country. The group had fewer than twenty people. The most famous were (alphabetically) C. Batifolier, M. Favre, J. Golay-Audemars, F. Modoux, E. Olivier, H. Wehrli - father and son, and A. Zibach. François Modoux distinguished himself by winning awards every year at the Geneva Observatory Timing Contests beginning in 1916.
He did not restrict himself to the Geneva Observatory; he won numerous times in Teddington (Kew) and Washington. His successes prompted Patek Philippe to hire him as one of their chief precision adjusters. Over the course of twenty years, Modoux won hundreds of awards for Patek Philippe, of which the most impressive are: 1929 Record for the large pocket watch category at the Observatory of Geneva, with 843 points (maximum 1000) 1929 Record for the pocket watch of small size category, the same observatory, with 826 points 1930: He beat his own record for the large pocket watch category at the Observatory of Geneva, with 850 points 1939: At Teddington, he took 9 prizes (including the first four) among the first 14 1943: He took all six first place prizes for deck watches at the Geneva Observatory 1944: He once again beat his own record for large pocket watches at Geneva Observatory with 865.2 points 1945: And again, also at the Geneva Observatory, this time with 878 points 1946. He does not even give competitors a chance – at the Geneva Observatory he took all 14 first place prizes in group A 1948: At the International Chronometer Competition at the Neuchâtel Observatory, François Modoux won the prize for a series of the four best chronometers, as well as a special prize for stability factor

FUNCTIONS:: Hours, minutes, small seconds
SIGNED: Dial, case and movement
DIMENSIONS: 48 mm Ø, thickness 16 mm
CASE: Four-part, massive, bassine, polished with concealed hinges, gold hinged, glazed cuvette to view the movement
DIAL: White enamel, with Breguet hours, outer minutes track, sunk subsidiary seconds
HANDS: Blued steel Breguet
MOVEMENT: Cal. 17’’’, rhodium-plated, fausses côtes decoration, gold train, punched twice with Seal of Geneva quality mark, jeweled to the center (18 jewels), three-arm equidistant highly polished steel carriage with lateral counterpoised lever escapement, anibal-brass Guillaume compensation balance with gold temperature and mean-time screws, special alloy Breguet balance spring with terminal curves

CASE: Very good
DIAL: Excellent, in perfect condition
HANDS: Very good, original
MOVEMENT: Excellent, in perfect condition