Insanely Awesome Pateks

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Patek Philippe Ref 3298T-001

The Reference 3928T-001 was one of several unique Patek watches commissioned by one owner.

The watch is titanium. The dial is silvered, and the Breguet hands and Breguet numerals are titanium. You can see the manual movement through a 9.44 ct diamond in the caseback. Dimensions are 33mm x 7mm.

The watch sold at Sotheby's in 2014 for $737,000.

 

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Wow!

 

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Prototype Pilot's Watch from 1936

This is a prototype Patek Pilot's watch from 1936. The movement was actually made in 1912. About 24 years later, it was set in a nickel-chromed case. The watch has what is referred to as a "splittable centre seconds and hour angle dial." The term "hour angle dial" means that the hour hand rotates once in 24 hours, indicating the degrees of arc against the center circle divided into 360. The "minute" hand rotates once every 4 hours and is read against the scale of 60. The two second hands revolve every 4 minutes, showing the angular minutes.

So, the time shown on the watch as pictured below, reads 332 8.5', translating into 22 hours, 8 minutes and 30 seconds. This is the time typically shown on watches in books and catalogs.

The case measures at an 56mm in diameter. That is large for any watch. For a Patek, it's out of this world huge. The watch was designed to be worn by pilots who would wear it on the outside of their flight suit.

Patek only made two of these. ​

One was sold at Christie's on May 11, 2009 for $1,710,690.

 

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Next up in our list of insanely awesome Pateks is a very special watch.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this is the world's first wristwatch. It was commissioned from Patek Philippe by Countess Koscowicz of Hungary 1868.

It was meant to be a piece of decorative jewelry, but it was also a wristwatch because it was a timekeeping device designed to be worn on the wrist.

It has the honor of being the world's first wristwatch because it was specifically conceived to be a wristwatch rather than a transformed pocket or pendant watch.

The watch was tiny by today’s standards, with a rectangular case housing a baguette movement, while the strap was a slender bangle of yellow gold.

It had a gilded movement that was wound by key, a cylinder escapement, eight jewels and an enamel dial.

The front:




The back: