Patek Philippe

whit
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I have had occasions to deal with 2 vintage

restorations, the first was a rectangular cased piece from the early 1940's and the other was a square cased piece from the early 1930's retailed by Tiffany (Tiffany on dial, mvmt marked Patek). Obviously, both pieces sent to Geneva for estimates.

The 1940's piece was done 20 years ago. Had the mvmt serviced, dial refinished, and case refinished. Total cost then was about $3-4000. The result was nothing short of incredible. It came back looking as it did when new. The transformation was dramatic, so much so when looking at the watch originally, the case appeared to be yellow gold and after refinishing discovered it was in fact, rose gold. The dial work was reasonable at the time, maybe $1000 or a little more but the time required for the dial was 12-18 months as I recall. All in all, it was reasonable in both time and cost and definitely worth the effort.

The 1930's piece was a whole different story. The hands were radium and since it had not been used in many years, the radium actually burned the hands imprint on the dial. Simple mvmt, hours, minutes, and small seconds at 6. Basically wanted to service the watch, refinish the case and dial. Got the estimate in about 2-3 months and about fainted. This was about 3-4 years ago. The work could be done at a cost of $16,000.00+ with a note explaining the high cost was in the work required for the movement.

Just be prepared for your love of the piece to be tested and have some oxygen nearby.