{"product_id":"open-face-in-18ct-gold-full-floral-engraving-c-1888-1890","title":"Open Face in 18ct Gold, Hand-Engraved Floral Case, c.1888-1890","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA triple-signed Patek Philippe from the heart of the Belle Epoque: dial, movement, and factory-engraved cuvette all carry the house signature and serial 82758. The 18ct gold case back is hand-engraved with a floral spray on a matted ground, the white enamel dial is bright and original, and it runs well.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1880s, a Patek Philippe like this was the finest watch a man could commission, and someone commissioned this one with the case as the centrepiece. The back is hand-engraved with a spray of five-petalled blossoms and leaves inside a plain polished border: each flower outlined and shaded with the graver, the ground between them cut to a fine cross-hatched matt so the bright petals stand out against it. Work at this level was ordered and paid for, and meant to be noticed; that it survives crisp is the notable part, because engraving on gold this soft usually softens over a century of pockets and palms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rest of the watch keeps pace. The white enamel dial is original and unrestored, slim black Roman numerals inside a railway minute track numbered every five minutes, the early PATEK, PHILIPPE \u0026amp; Co signature above the centre. The hands are gold lozenge pattern, the open diamond form the house used through the late nineteenth century, with a blued steel hand in the sub-seconds at six. Under magnification a single fine hairline runs from the centre arbor down to the sub-seconds rim; it is stable, hard to find at arm's length, and the only mark on an otherwise bright, glassy surface. At 48.7mm it has the full presence of a Victorian gentleman's watch, and the pendant push-piece and hinge still work with the clean action of a well-kept case.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWatches like this were bought once and kept for life, and this one reads like it was: used, cared for, never restored because it never needed to be. It winds, sets and runs well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe marks, the movement and the condition are set out piece by piece in the drawers below; the three signatures and the factory-engraved cuvette are recorded in The Record.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Patek Philippe","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54591950127443,"sku":"PW-0131","price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1080\/3121\/3907\/files\/patek-philippe-18ct-yellow-gold-pocket-watch-1_Hero_4b98aef9-4d44-4417-a6e9-c8d056099557.jpg?v=1787742075","url":"https:\/\/estatecollection.nl\/products\/open-face-in-18ct-gold-full-floral-engraving-c-1888-1890","provider":"The Estate Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}