Lot 266

Patek Philippe à Genève, Movement No. 38423, Case No. 38423, Cal. 8''', 21 mm, 27 g, circa 1870
A rare ball-shaped gold enamel lapel watch with matching gold enamel watch chain, sold on 06/26/1871 - with Patek Philippe extract from the archives
Case: 18k gold, black enamelled. Dial: enamel, Arabic numerals, red "12", blued spade hands. Movm.: full plate movement, frosted, gilt, cylinder escapement, bezel-wound, ring balance.
Our watch has an ingenious keyless winding movement where one half of the ball is turned to wind the watch.
An extensive publicity generated a flow of orders for the charming ball-form watches (the so-called "Boules de Genève") from royalty all over the world. Patek Philippe delivered examples to Prince Hussein Kamil of Egypt in 1887 and to Empress Teresa of Brazil in 1888; both pieces are shown in the catalogue of the "Timepieces of Royalty" exhibition that took place at the the Patek Philippe Museum in the autumn of 2005. Today the museum's permanent exhibition holds a small number of later Boules de Genève models in various designs.

Sold