Patek Philippe World Time Tower

Name: Patek Philippe World Time Tower
Brand: Patek Philippe
Price: 125000 USD
Availability: InStock

$125,000

About

This sleek seven-module time tower was created by Patek Philippe of Geneva. Part of the highly regarded Patek Philippe Electronic Clock System, this time tower was likely once used to help regulate machinery at a military hospital in Helsingborg, Sweden. With this module-style time tower system, one could mix and match components to create a truly unique timekeeping system of their choice. These components, known as "slaves," could be digital or analog, could read months, days, hours, minutes and seconds and could even be regulated to accurately measure time to within 1/1000th of a second. Notorious for their mechanically complex wrist and pocket watches, it is no surprise that the Swiss firm of Patek Philippe developed such an advanced timepiece. The highly sophisticated clock indicates the times of six major cities around the world with the utmost precision, while the master time is displayed in the top tower with red Nixie tubes. The tower received the master time through the antennae from the radio controlled HBG Swiss Time Observatory in Prangins. The use of HGB signals in these Time Towers revolutionized industrial technology in their time. The few clock Patek Philippe created are incredibly rare limited editions and were specially commissioned pieces. Clocks such as this amazing example rarely appear on the market and this unique time tower is truly a masterpiece of horology.

Details

Creator
Patek Philippe (Clockmaker)
Dimensions
Height: 37 in. (93.98 cm)Width: 19 in. (48.26 cm)Depth: 8 in. (20.32 cm)
Materials and Techniques
Other
Place of Origin
Switzerland
Period
20th Century
Date of Manufacture
20th Century
Condition
Seller Location
New Orleans, LA
Reference Number
Seller: 30-19541stDibs: LU89114439793
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Ships From: New Orleans, LA
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About Patek Philippe (Clockmaker)

It shouldn’t be surprising that a Patek Philippe holds the world auction record for a watch ($31.2 million for a Patek Grandmaster Chime, sold at Christie’s Geneva last November, in case anyone’s wondering). Known for impeccable craftsmanship and some of the most complicated timepieces ever created, the brand is considered by many to be the height of fine watchmaking. The house was founded in Geneva in 1839 by Polish expats Antoni Patek and Franciszek Czapek. Czapek left the firm, and in 1845, Patek partnered with French watchmaker Jean Adrien Philippe. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Catering to the glitterati of Europe, the pair counted among their clients Tolstoy, Pope Pius IX and Queen Victoria, as well as Countess Koscowicz of Hungary, for whom they created the first Swiss-made wristwatch in 1868. They also had their eye on the American market and in 1851 entered an arrangement with Tiffany & Co. still in effect today.

During the Great Depression, brothers Jean and Charles Stern, who had previously supplied Patek Philippe with watch dials, bought the company, and it continues to be run by the Stern family today.

Under the Sterns, the house has developed some of its most famous models, including the Calatrava, an elegantly minimal dress watch introduced in 1932 and named for the Calatrava Cross (the company’s logo since 1887), and the Nautilus, the brand’s first sports watch, conceived by legendary designer Gérald Genta in 1976.

Despite the house’s longevity, it’s rumored that it has manufactured fewer than a million Patek watches, making each one all the more coveted.