The headlining item at Sotheby’s first-ever Abu Dhabi Collectors’ week auction turns the clock back to the dawn of the new millennium, offering publicly for the first time a complete set of Patek Philippe Star Caliber 2000 pocket watches.
Patek Philippe has a rich history of pushing the mechanical pocket watch medium to its limit. The Henry Graves Supercomplication, which debuted in 1933 after six years of development, reigned as the most complex pocket watch with 24 complications—or features beyond second, minute and hour display—until 1989, when Patek Philippe debuted the 33-complication Caliber 89.
The millennium-welcoming Star Caliber 2000, while not as complex as the Caliber 89, boasts no less than 21 complications, 1,118 intricately finished components, and 6 patented elements, beginning with the selective opening cover. While most dual-sided pocket watches would require a mechanism to be slid around half the circumference of the watch to select which side would be revealed, the covers for the Star Caliber’s dual sides—one for time measurement, the other showing celestial movements—can be opened by simply rotating the bow 180 degrees.
Patent No. 2 deals with the watch’s ability to sound Big Ben’s Westminster Chimes by striking two identical tones in immediate succession, a feat which no mechanical pocket watch since has been able to accomplish. The third patent regards the equation of time, or the name given to the difference between mean solar time and true solar time. As Sotheby’s explains, “Mechanical watches use a special cam mechanism to display the difference, however, if the equation of time is not synchronized with the calendar indicators on the device, it will not be accurate. To correct these errors, the watch would need to be completely taken apart. Patek Philippe overcame these issues by allowing the perpetual calendar mechanism to control the cam.” That same perpetual calendar mechanism also controls the sunrise and sunset indicator.
To ensure that the Star Caliber 2000 wouldn’t take immense effort to reset if not worn for an extended period of time, Patek Philippe also equipped a rapid calendar corrector that allows users to advance all calendar indicators up to a month at a time with the push of a button. Finally, the watch’s design makes it possible for the celestial dial to offer a much more detailed display of stars than the typical moon phase and lunar orbit that’s usually seen in such a small package.
Legendary casemaker Jean-Pierre Hagmann crafted each of the four cases with Renaissance-inspired ironwork engraving from a different precious metal—yellow gold, rose gold, white gold and platinum. A second engraver, Christian Thibert, pierced and engraved the front and back covers, which feature swirling acanthus leaf motifs, to allow the chimes to resonate more clearly.
Presented in their original presentation box, expect the first complete Star Caliber 2000 pocket watch set to fetch $10 million or more at Sotheby’s first Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week event on December 5.
