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Patek Philippe's vintage 8-Days Power Reserve watches
Patek Philippe recently released a new 8-Days model, ref. 5328G-001, which is a round interpretation of the rectangular Gondolo, ref. 5200G-001 (a dedicated thread can be found here).
But, doing some research, I discovered that during the 1930s Patek Philippe made four 8-Days movements (modified versions of the LeCoultre rectangular 9’’’ Cal. 124), three of which have become actual wristwatches.
Let's dive in!
Best, Emmanuel
A/ Movement n° 198.443 & case n° 609.409, made in 1931 and retailed by Brock & Company, Los Angeles on December 9, 1933
Case: yellow gold with platinum bezel, 23 x 39 mm.
NB: this particular yellow gold/platinum case n° 609.409 originally housed the movement n° 198.451 of example C (cf. below). In 1931, the movement of the present example (A) left the factory with a full platinum case (n° 604.395), the whereabouts of which remain unknown to this date.
This watch was sold as lot 489 at
Sotheby’s New York in June
1995 and subsequently resold at
Antiquorum Geneva, on October 11,
2003 as
lot 558.

credit: sotheby’s & antiquorum
B/ Movement n° 198.450 & case n° 609.407, manufactured in 1931 and sold on June 21st, 1932
Case: yellow gold, 22.5 x 38.45 mm
This watch was sold as
lot 131 at
Bonhams "The Art of Time", New-York, on December 4,
2017 and then resold as
lot 107 at
Sotheby's "Important Watches", New-York, on December 5,
2018.
Examples A & B side by side credit: sotheby’s (1), Bonhams (2-7) & uhrenkosmos (8)
C/ Movement n° 198.451 & case n° 2.818.152, made in 1931 and sold by Brock & Company, Los Angeles on December 4th, 1933
Case: yellow gold, ? x 38 x 8 mm
NB: the present movement no.198.451 left the factory in case n° 609.409 now belonging to example A (cf. above). During a service in October 1984, it was fitted in a new case n° 2.818.152 with the unique ref. 3655 (so this watch is now considered as being ref. 3655).
This watch was sold at
Sotheby's New York, on October
1987 as lot 178. It was subsequently proposed as
lot 257 at
Sotheby’s New-York, June 10,
2013 where it remained unsold. Finally it was resold at
Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2014 as
lot 268.

credit: sotheby’s
D/ Uncased movement n° 198.309
This fourth movement has remained uncased and is only illustrated in the book Patek Philippe Watches by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery (Second Edition, Vol. II, p.33, fig. 30).