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Patek Philippe: Tourbillons and Observatory Watches info
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| Patek Philippe began
work on its first tourbillon pocket watch in 1864, a 20 ligne movement
with stem winding. In 1945, Andre Bornand, master watchmaker at Patek Philippe
and professor of escapement design at the Geneva School of Horology, developed
wristwatch movement 861,115. This 30mm movement was designed to compete
in the Geneva Observatory competition. He was also responsible for the
1.018 gram bronze berylium tourbillon cage (including the whole escapement)
in tonneau-shaped Calibre 34T, Patek's first tourbillon produced in series.
Between 1943 and 1966, Patek submitted simple calibre wristwatches (cat D) to the Geneva Observatory 480 times, and tourbillon wristwatches 27 times. Individual movements may be submitted several times over the years, so it is difficult to determine the actual number of movements produced. For simple calibres, I estimate that Patek's production during these years is between 100-200, plus 6-10 Tourbillons. |
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| Ref | Type | Calibre | Start | End | Quant. | Details | Cost Est. | Examples |
| 570 | Observatory | 13''' | 1939 | Lepine ebauche | ||||
| Tourbillon | 13.25''' | 1949 | 1949 | 1 | First Geneva Competition Tourbillon
by Andre Bornand. No. 861,115
Round, 1 minute tourbillon, 18 jewels, Guillaume Balance, freesprung Breguet overcoil, straight line lever escapement, precision timing by Zibach. |
Huber 256 | ||
| 2458 | Observatory | 13''' | 1952 | Lepine ebauche, Guillaume balance, Breguet overcoil, 20J. JB Champion 861,121 | Huber 253 | |||
| Observatory | 13''' | 1953 | Guillaume balance, Breguet overcoil, 18 jewels, precision regulation by Mathez. 861,126 | Huber 255 | ||||
| 2556 | Observatory | 13''' | 1954 | 1954 | 1 | Guillaume balance, Breguet overcoil.
21 jewels 861,137
43.77 points (56.34 is record for C - small pocket) |
$200+ | 2556
Huber 254 Patrizzi 215 |
| 3834 | Tourbillon | 34T | 1956 | 1966
1980 |
5 | Rectangular, 50 second tourbillon,
23J, Guillaume balance, Duofix shock-absorbers, freesprung Breguet overcoil,
straight line lever escapement, 21,600 vph, 57 hour reserve. Subseconds
mounted on extra wheel off last arbor of train, at 8 o'clock.
54.83 points awarded in 1958 861,490 & 866,500-503 Cased in 1980 Calibre 34T is a Zibach/Jaccard Calibre 34S (702mm2 Geneva Observatory Competition Cat D ebauche) with a Bornand tourbillon. See Huber I 81-83 |
$440 1989 | 3834
34T Huber 256 Huber I pl 145 Patrizzi 214 |
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Text Copyright 2000 Cormac Kinney and ThePuristS.com