Halcro
157
Back from Patek Geneva
May 23, 2018,20:28 PM
A year ago I accidentally cracked the crystal face of my 1952 Ref 1491 and took it to my local Patek Service Agent in Sydney who informed me that for vintage Patek watches, they had to be sent back to Geneva for any work whatsoever......even the simple replacement of the crystal face.
Within a week of receiving the watch....Patek Geneve inspected it and provided pricing for the suggested servicing and restoration as well as the crystal replacement.
As the watch was already there and the pricing sounded reasonable....I went for it!!!
Nearly a year later it came back and I'm very pleased.....
Apart from looking virtually new again....they confirmed in writing how well maintained the watch had been kept.
What particularly impressed me was the polishing and finishing around the gold scroll lugs.....
These lugs were fully polished before being sent to Geneva, and all the examples of the Ref 1491 I had seen, have always appeared with fully polished lugs.
This is apparently not the original finish these lugs had, as Patek has carefully linished the faces of the lugs whilst polishing the edges.
It is an aesthetic detail which elevates the appearance of this case to 'artwork' IMHO.