In honor of Patek Philippe’s recent 175th birthday, WatchTime offers a look at the company’s most notable wristwatches. Scroll down to discover WatchTime.com’s top five. For the complete list of 24 milestone Patek Philippe watches, you can download the full article from WatchTime’sonline store.
1868 — First Patek Philippe Wristwatch
In 1868, Patek Philippe began production of its first wristwatch: an ornate affair with a baguette-shaped, key-wound movement called Caliber 27368. It had a cylinder escapement and eight jewels. The watch’s case and bracelet were made of yellow gold. The dial was protected by a hinged cover adorned with large diamonds; more diamonds flanked both sides of the dial. In 1873, Patek Phillipe delivered the watch to the Countess Koscewicz of Hungary. The watch is now in the company’s museum.
1925 — First Perpetual Calendar Wristwatch
That this, the world’s first perpetual calendar wristwatch, ever came to be is due chiefly to chance. Patek Philippe originally made the movement, which bears the number 97975, for a women’s pendant watch. Completed in 1898, the watch found no takers despite one interesting feature: its calendar hands jumped instantaneously to the next day at the stroke of midnight, rather than creeping forward slowly, as on conventional calendar watches. The watch stayed on the shelf until 1925, when the growing popularity of wristwatches inspired Patek Philippe to put the movement into a wristwatch case. The watch was finally sold on Oct. 13, 1927.
1948 – Reference 2441 “Eiffel Tower”
This watch, Reference 2441, earned the nickname Eiffel Tower from its lugs, whose flared shape and squared-off ends bring to mind the tower’s bottom section. The watch, launched in 1948, was powered by Caliber 9-90, a tonneau-shaped movement that Patek Philippe launched in 1934. Reference 2441 is a favorite with collectors, thanks in part to its distinctive and flamboyant case. In 1997, Patek Philippe paid homage to that case. To mark the inauguration of its new factory and headquarters in Geneva that year, the company brought out a limited-edition watch with a rectangular case with flared lugs like those on the Eiffel Tower. The new watch also had a name inspired by architecture: the Pagoda.
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