First Timer on the Vintage Market: Two of the Most Valuable Pateks on Sale at the Same Time
- Oliver Knop
- 25. Sept. 2025
- 7 Min. Lesezeit
Adrenalin guaranteed: 12 million Euros separate the low estimates for 2 of only 4 known examples of Patek Philippe’s legendary reference 1518 chronograph with perpetual calendar and phases of the moon in steel. Condition and provenance: comparable. Once in a lifetime opportunity or money trap? Act fast or wait out? It will be exciting this fall to follow the auction of Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo in Geneva and Monaco Legend Groups private sale in the Principality.
As Patek Philippe delivered its famous ‘Super Complication’ to Henry Graves on January 19th, 1933, it faced its deepest crisis yet, despite its horological triumph that confirmed the makers’ dominance in the world of luxurious timepieces. The 1929 Wall Street Crash and the following depression resulted in a sharp contraction of demand and Patek Philippe’s focus on a few high-end customers exacerbated the issue further. The growing segment of wristwatches had thus far mostly just been covered with standard time-only movements delivered by Jaeger Le Coultre. The few efforts that were made to create complicated wristwatches, like a handful of chronographs and split-seconds chronographs, ceased with the worsening of economic conditions. When its largest wristwatch customer, Jeweler Gondolo & Labouriau of Rio de Janeiro discontinued orders in 1930, Patek Philippe was facing financial distress.
Such was the situation when dial supplier Stern acquired a majority holding in its own client in 1932 to embark upon a new strategy for the struggling maker of fine timepieces. Corner stones were the development of proprietary movements and the creation of complications for wristwatches. The objective was to replicate what had made Patek Philippe the world’s premier producer of luxurious pocket watches before.
Patek Philippe’s traditional pocket watch clientele of magnates from the industrial revolution gradually gave in to a new generation of high-net-worth individuals that drew its inspiration from the stars of sports and entertainment. Then and now, they were the reference in stye of their time. Just a year after the Graves watch, Switzerland exported more wristwatches than pocket watches for the first time.
The realization of Patek’s new product range was assigned to technical director Jean Pfister who was hired from Cyma/ Tavannes, a fast-growing maker of all types of wristwatches at the time. His main priority was the development of new in-house base calibers. For complicated movements, he liaised with Vallée de Joux based workshop Victorin Piguet, that had already been instrumental in the design of the Graves watch. The result was impressive.
Two new models, references 1526 and 1518 were introduced in 1941. Both featured perpetual calendars with the phases of the moon in addition to the read of the time. Model 1518 went even further as it was also a chronograph. The watch became a game changer for Patek Philippe as it was miles ahead of competition. Audemars Piguet was the only other producer to come up with a handful of perpetual calendar wristwatches too - more than ten years later - and they were no chronographs. For over 40 years Patek Philippe remained the only maker to offer this combination of complications in a mechanical watch. Model 1518 reaffirmed the dominating position in high end timepieces that Patek Philippe holds to this day.
To fully appreciate the technical advancement behind the watch, one should consider that only very few makers of pocket watches at all were ever able to deliver chronograph movements with a perpetual calendar and the phases of the moon on top. The standard diameter of such watches was 50 millimeters or more. In contrast, Patek Philippe’s wristwatch model 1518 measured a mere 35 millimeters, translating into a downsizing of over 35% in comparison. This was achieved without the precision engineering tools available now.
Its base caliber was a Valjoux 13’’’ ebauche, used by many other producers too. However, despite being a reliable movement in itself, it was strongly refined and fitted with a calendar module on the dial side.
Production of the model lasted until the mid-1950’s. Back then as now, only a few chosen personalities of high interest or significant wealth were lucky enough to become owners of Patek Philippe’s top creations. 281 watches were produced, around 100 of which have resurfaced to date. Each example of model 1518 was already an important watch when it was conceived. Because of their meaning for the maker, their beauty and rarity, their value only continues to grow.
As one would expect, precious metal was the material of choice for the watch cases that were made by master case maker Emile Vichet of Geneva. Most cases were made of 18 carat yellow gold, just around 60 of rose gold. Strong rose gold pieces with corresponding salmon dials have long fetched 7-digit prices on the rare occasions they became available.
The least expected material for such watches is certainly stainless steel, as it is neither rare nor precious but rather functional. Yet, four pieces are known to exist. Three of them are housed in cases produced by case maker George Croisier, not by Vichet as the golden ones. Croisier is credited with pioneering stainless steel or ‘Staybrite’, as it was known initially, to produce fancy watch cases. The watches were all made in 1943 and bear consecutive case numbers. The fourth example was produced 4 years later and was built into a case by Edouard Wenger, who went on to provide the cases for the successor model of reference 1518.
These watches ae among the most valuable timepieces ever made and two of them are on the market this fall. Phillips in Association with Bacs and Russo will auction the first ever produced example in its November sale in Geneva. Already since February, the third produced watch is in the private sale of the Monaco Legend Group.
The 3 watches of the first batch only differ by their condition and by the fact that the one in MLG’s private sale was originally delivered with a ‘grain de riz’ steel bracelet instead of a leather strap. Uninvolved people could say, the condition is kind of irrelevant here since there are only two watches available anyways and both look very clean. Understanding the condition of vintage timepieces, however, is at the heart of the passion itself. Since I did not have a chance to look at the watches physically yet, I will only recommend what to look at when examining them.
The dials of both watches are very attractive and don’t look as if they are over 80 years old at all. This makes it seem likely that they have both been cleaned. Given the graphics are enameled and not printed, they are more resistant to cleaning. However, the small accent over the ‘Genève’ and the comma between ‘Patek’ and ‘Philippe’ are still vulnerable. They are curiously shaped on unrestored dials and their contour diffuses easily.
When the lentil indexes and hour markers are left on during cleaning, they may change color. When they are taken off, reapplying them requires great care to avoid traces.
The surface coating is prone to flaking around the drillings for the applied hour markers. That is true for the sharp edges around the date windows and registers as well.
While watch case restoration has advanced greatly, especially for steel cases, it still makes sense to look at the strength and the symmetry of the lugs, as well as the sharpness of all steps. The weight impression when holding the watch in my hands for the first time is always important to me too. All four known watches are fabulously documented in John Goldberger’s superb ‘Patek Philippe Steel Watches’ book. A fun preparation for the preview!
The Phillips watch achieved 11 million Swiss Francs when it was last sold in their auction in November 2016. It’s low estimate of CHF 8 m in the upcoming sale is thus a slight surprise, but perhaps a sign of confidence and deemed to trigger a lot of bidding action. The watch in the private sale at MLG on the other hand reflects the way the market went over the past two decades. Bidding here starts at € 20 m. This watch first appeared on the public market in 1989 when fashion designer Gerolamo Etro delivered it into a Monaco auction, where it was sold for the equivalent of € 270 tsd. The third watch with case number 508474-2 was sold for the last time at Dr. Crott Auctions in Mannheim in November 2004 for € 1.3 m.
The first two produced examples were originally delivered to a Hungarian dealership and it is said they initially reached the collectors’ market through the hands of families from there. The third watch supposedly first popped up in the 1980’s at a 47thSt. vendor in NYC. So apart from the Italian fashion designer, there is not too much emotion in the known provenance that would set the pieces apart.
Following the November sale in Geneva will still be extremely exciting as it is the first time two such pieces in a similar condition are on sale at the same time. Potential bidders may want to wait the Phillips auction out because of the low estimate. But depending on how that goes, the private sale of Monaco Legend Group will be influenced too. Plus, history shows there have not been any discounts at Phillips yet. So, potentially, we will see new records although the market has not been strong of late!
