Patek Philippe

I've been looking at various 2526 in big auction houses for a while now and it has grown on me very much lately.
Can someone enlighten me on the story of 2526 as to its total production, metal options and variations of the dial?
If pics could be added then it would be very helpful.
Cheers

But I would go visit Anitquorum site as it has lots of info on this reference.  Just search for it and click into the various picture and there is a whole magnitude of details.....

Here is some info from Antiquorum regarding the 12-600 and the 2526 as well as the later and apparently rarer 3428. I have also included a picture of mine.

Ref. 2526. First launched by Patek Philippe in 1953, this was the first self-winding wrist-watchmodel ever made by the company, with the caliber 12'''-600 AT,bearing the serial number 760'000. It would appear that Patek Philippeproduced the Ref. 2526 in 580 examples, mostly with an enamel dial.The latest automatic movement by Patek Philippe at the time, itbecame the Ref. 3428:- 20 examples in platinum.- 30 examples in white gold.- 50 examples in pink gold.- 480 examples in yellow gold.The Ref. 2526 is a most appealing wristwatch and is highly sought-after by collectors. There have been fourgenerations of this model which have evolved as follows: - 1st generation: domed screw back, beige enamel dial with applied indexes. The enamel is flared around the holes which hold the indexes, the central hands and the subsidiary seconds hand. - 2nd generation: domed screw back, beige enamel dial with applied indexes. The indexes are inlaid in the enamel surface; the enamel is flared around the holes which hold the central Hands and the subsidiary seconds hand. In this articular series, only avery few examples ere made with a black dial and even fewer ith Breguet numerals. - 3rd generation: identical to the 2nd gener-ation ut with a practically flat screw back. Very few examples of this series were produced with a black dial, and only one with a black dial and Breguet numerals is known to date. - 4th generation: practically flat screw back, beige enamel dial with applied indexes. The indexes are luminescent and inlaid in theenamel surface; the enamel is flared around the holes which hold the central hands and the subsidiary seconds hand. The very firstwristwatch of this series, Ref. 2526, which is also the first self-winding wristwatch ever Made by Patek Philippe, is illustrated in "Collecting Patek Philippe Watches", by Madeleine and Osvaldo Patrizzi, GuidoMondani Editore, Genova, 2000, p. 127. Similar watches are published in "Patek Philippe Wristwatches", by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, 1998, pp. 213-214 and 216-217.

According to our records, only 7'100 movements cal. 12'''-600 AT have been made from 1953 to circa 1959 and were mounted in wristwatches bearing the references 2526, 2540, 2551, 2552, 2583, 2584, 2585, 3403, 3415, and 3425. From 1959, Ref. 3415, 3425, 3428, 3429, 3433, 3443, 3435, 3438, 3439, 3440, 3441, 3444 and 3454 were equipped with cal. 27-460 as well.Cal. 27-460 became the movement which was used for all automatic wristwatches and 27-460 Q for perpetual calendar wristwatches with automatic winding.Circa 1960, Ref. 2526 was equipped with cal 27-460, the latest automatic movement by Patek Philippe at the time and became the Ref. 3428.

Julian

Whoops here is the photo

There's a recent post with good insight by Suitbert.

watchprosite.com

with all the 4 generations of 2526, does anyone have the pics of the back and dial to compare the differences?

If I were to purchase one then what do I have to look or look out for?
Cheers