Live Auction 1348Important Pocket Watches and Wristwatches
Patek Philippe. An unusual metal and aluminium electronic marine chronometer with wooden box and Gdansk Observatory rating certificate
Lot 41

Patek Philippe. An unusual metal and aluminium electronic marine chronometer with wooden box and Gdansk Observatory rating certificate

SIGNED PATEK PHILIPPE, GENEVA, NO. 1277/26, RETAILED BY KELVIN HUGHES, LONDON, CIRCA 1970

Closed12 November 2007

Price Realised

CHF 4,375

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Patek Philippe. An unusual metal and aluminium electronic marine chronometer with wooden box and Gdansk Observatory rating certificate
Signed Patek Philippe, Geneva, no. 1277/26, retailed by Kelvin Hughes, London, circa 1970
With quartz movement, the black matte dial with luminous Arabic five minute, 24 hours and 12 hours indication, luminous hands, luminous sweep centre seconds, in square metal and aluminum case, held by two screws within the hinged two-tier mahogany deck box with glazed cover, case signed by maker and retailer, movement signed by maker
165 mm. wide

Specialist note

Accompanied by photocopies of the Certificate of Legalization confirming that the present chronometer has been examined between 14 March and 30 March 1990 at the Observatory in Gdansk, Poland. The results achieved matched the acceptable tolerance for ship chronometer of the 1 class of accuracy.

Kelvin Hughes Limited have been supplying mariners with chronometers, compasses and sextants for over two hundred and fifty years.

In 1941, two firms formed an alliance under the name Kelvin & Hughes, Marine Instruments Ltd.: Kelvin Bottomley & Baird, founded in Glasgow around 1850, manufacturer and supplier of technical equipment and Hughes, originally clock makers in the East End of London who had progressed into supplying sextants and chronometers to ships coming into the Thames.

In 1947, all operations were combined in one company, Kelvin Hughes Limited, which in the early 1960s became part of Smiths, a UK based instrument maker.