We’ve been expecting this valuation of a rather rare vintage Patek Philippe complicated pocket watch out of the US Antiques Roadshow are re-uploaded to their website. This is one of these discovers in which the timepiece has been sitting locked off in excellent condition. Yes, we know the clip is from 2004 but still goes to show a timepiece of importance can be unearthed anytime and place.
The pocket watch manufactured by Patek Philippe pocket replica watches conversion in 1914 featured a perpetual calendar, splits seconds chronograph and second repeater housed in an engine turned 18ct gold case. The guy who brought in the pocket watch was that the great-grandson of the original owner.
Patek Philippe George Thompson Pocket View
Reverse side of this timepiece showing the endless calendar and moonphase. The name George Thompson and his firm name are printed below the moonphase. The opposite side of this Patek Philippe pocket serial numbers replica watches George Thompson Pocket View
The Antiques Roadshow appraiser asked the gentleman if he ever had the opinion evaluated before and it highlights the importance of seeking a second opinion. He gave it a test on the show of $250,000. The watch ended up selling at auction in 2006 for CHF1.86 million! The pocket watch (Supercomplication No. 174 480) resides at the Patek Philippe pocket antique fake watch Museum at Geneva.
Information from the Patek Philippe pocket antiques roadshow replica watches website on the man who commissioned the timepiece and specifics of the watch:
The story of the rediscovery of George Thompson’s exceptional, expansive complication timepiece is almost as extraordinary as the watch itself. Thompson, who had been born in the English county of Devon at 1840, began his working life as a financier but the bank he worked for failed throughout the 1870s, prompting him to move to America. Shifting to a career in journalism, he also took a position with the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch at St. Paul, Minnesota, finally becoming its editor and owner.
Thompson’s success in business allowed him to commission Patek Philippe pocket movement clone to make this unique, double-dialled watch. Front includes a standard time display using a split seconds chronograph, a 30-minute register and constant subsidiary seconds, while the inverse incorporates the endless calendar dials showing the day, date, month and phases of the moon, each one exquisitely decorated in crimson enamel for greatest clarity. The watch also includes a minute repeater mechanism also, surprisingly, both the front and rear bezels of its enormous 54mm diameter case are engine-turned.
The whereabouts of this historically significant watch remained unidentified for decades before it had been brought to a specialist on the American version of the Antiques Roadshow for evaluation in June 2004 by Thompson’s great grandson, who had inherited it. Previously unaware of its significance, the great- grandson subsequently consigned into a Sotheby’s auction in May 2006, in which it trebled expectations to bring CHF1.86 million. It had been offered with its original box, which still contained two spare crystals and 2 spare springs.
It’s still possible that many rare bits are still lying in safe keeping, with their owners not understanding the significance of what they have within their drawer or safe. We love stories like that and seeing the response of the individual when they found the value of the timepiece.