LOT 165
paT e k p h i L i p p e Ref. 1518
Reference 1518 was launched in 1941 and was not only Patek Philippe’s frst wristwatch ever to feature a chronograph and a perpetual calendar, but in fact the world’s frst ever made in series. This landmark model is not only a must to any serious collector of vintage wristwatches but also a mission more and more difcult to accomplish given the scarcity of well-preserved examples coming to the market. Literature suggests that in approximate 14 years of the model’s production a total of 281 examples have been made. The majority of these were cased in yellow gold and ftted with silvered dials. Examples in pink gold are exceedingly rare.
CH_SP15_WATCHES_ONE_182-241_BL2.indd 223
Examples of reference 1518 cased in rose gold were either ftted with a silvered dial and in rare instances with a rose dial. Some 12 watches with this mythical “pink on pink” dial combination are known today, making it one of the rarest and most exclusive complicated Patek Philippe wristwatch for a collector to acquire. All of these watches known to have survived are in the hands of connoisseurs and it normally takes years until a well preserved example of this limited series comes to the market. It is consequently a true event when a previously unknown example is ofered at auction, completely fresh to the market and never been shown or ofered publicly before. The present example is such an event as it is one of the very few ultra-watches that the public has never before known about. The present example has a fawless and well documented provenance and has, since its manufacture in 1948, only been in the hands of 4 owners.
28/03/15 10.26