Patek Philippe. An extremely fine, rare and attractive stainless steel chronograph wristwatch with two-tone silvered sector dial and pulsometre scale
Lot 230

Patek Philippe. An extremely fine, rare and attractive stainless steel chronograph wristwatch with two-tone silvered sector dial and pulsometre scale

Signed Patek Philippe & Co., Genève, ref. 130, movement no. 867'041, case no. 630'154, manufactured in 1946

Closed14 November 2016

Price Realised

CHF 175,000

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Patek Philippe. An extremely fine, rare and attractive stainless steel chronograph wristwatch with two-tone silvered sector dial and pulsometre scale
Signed Patek Philippe & Co., Genève, ref. 130, movement no. 867'041, case no. 630'154, manufactured in 1946
MOVEMENT: manual, Cal. 13''' stamped with the Geneva seal, 23 jewels
DIAL: two-tone white silvered matte, Arabic and baton numerals, fifths of a second combined with Arabic five minutes railway divisions, outer pulsometer scale graduated to 15 pulsations, two sunken subsidiary dials for constant seconds and 30 minutes register
CASE: stainless steel, snap on back, two rectangular chronograph buttons in the band, 33 mm. diam.
SIGNED: case, dial, movement
BUCKLE: stainless steel Patek Philippe buckle
ACCOMPANIED BY: Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch with silvered dial, raised steel hour markers and tachometre scale in 1946 and its subsequent sale on 13 May 1948.




Specialist note

This watch is an incredibly appealing example of one of the extremely rare references 130 in stainless steel fitted with a superb two-tone silvered sector dial featuring a scale calibrated to 15 pulsations as opposed to the more common 30 pulse beats. The combination of the grain-finished segment for the minute and hour section contrasting with the plain centre and outer ring featuring the pulsometre scale render the watch a unique and extremely smart look.

Given the date of sale of the watch it can safely be assumed that this dial was mounted shortly after its purchase upon special request of its first owner, a theory supported by the archival information stating that it left Patek Philippe's workshops with a tachometre dial.

According to our researches it would appear that in over 40 years of international watch auctions only one other example of this reference in steel featuring a pulsation scale calibrated to 15 pulse beats has appeared in public. The superb look of the ultra-rare dial combined with the incredible quality and crispness of the steel case render this chronograph a rare find for the collector of exceptional timepieces.

Pulsometer scale
The sector dial featuring a pulsometre scale instead of the traditional tachometre, were not a customary function. They are believed to be special orders and are much rarer to find. This function which is also known as “doctor dial” was created to allow physicians to calculate a patient's pulse in far less than one minute.

Reference 130
Reference 130, one of Patek Philippe's landmark models, was launched in 1934 and remained in production until the 1960s. Distinguished by its timeless "Calatrava" design, the model was available in different precious metals as well as in stainless steel.

It is interesting to note that the lugs of the stainless steel version are different from the yellow, pink or white gold ones. Their slightly thicker but shorter design gives the watch a rather tonneau-shaped design and a more sportive, robust and masculine look.

Further examples of ref. 130 with sector dials are illustrated in Patek Philippe Steel Watches by John Goldberger, pp. 212-223.