Patek Philippe Chronograph 2499

Patek Philippe 's history is full of iconic models such as. Nautilus, Aquanaut, Calatrava and of course the Perpetual Calendar Chronograph. It all began in 1838 with the founding of "Patek, Czapek & Cie" in Geneva by the entrepreneur Antoni Norbert de Patek, an immigrant from Poland, and the watchmaker François Czapek, an immigrant from Czekia.

In 1844 Antoni Patek, founder of the Maison, met the French watchmaker Jean-Adrien Philippe in Paris, where the latter presented his futuristic and comfortable system of setting the time and winding the watch through the crown, which will replace the using a separate key.

In 1845 François Czapek decided to leave the company to continue on his own, and the company name was changed to "Patek & Cie."

The ref. 2499 is considered by most Patek Philippe collectors to be one of their Holy Grail timepieces. It's by far an emblem for the Swiss Maison and the whole timepieces history.

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Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar 2499/100 Gubelin.

Reference 2499 was launched in 1951, replacing the legendary ref. 1518, and was in production for nearly three and a half decades.

In 1954 the production of the Patek Philippe 1518 ended and after 13 years the reference 2499 arrived. In reality the new model 2499 seems to have been launched a little earlier, in 1951 to be precise, which would explain why the first examples of the 2499 were made together. To the last pieces of 1518, which have a production end date dated 1954. It will be one of the most long-lived watches in the world, with its almost 35 years of total production, a true icon in the sector because it will be produced in a few numerical copies.

Yellow Gold Case

Visually, the first series of the Patek Philippe 2499 is more striking because it has a case with a diameter of 37.5 mm., Expanding the perspective of the watch in a clear and imposing way compared to its ancestor (35 mm.), Which is also considered by many as the perfect size to the present day for a case to wear on the wrist. It also has square buttons and a dial with Arabic numerals applied to a tachymeter scale. In short, if you look closely at the hands as well, we discover that the Patek Philippe 2499 is quite similar to its predecessor 1518. The whole is produced in yellow gold but also, in small numbers, in rose gold. There are also two examples in platinum.

After this first series, Patek Philippe changes the design codes in a clear way in the second series of 2499 (produced from the mid-1950s), in the third (roughly from 1960 to 1978, therefore the most widespread in the world and automatically the least valuable), and also in the fourth series, an indication of a constant evolution aimed at the canons of a modernity that is almost deliberately accelerated rather than desired. An example? The net rounding of the buttons in the second series. chronograph. Or the exclusion of the tachymeter scale on the dial with Arabic numerals in the third and fourth series. In addition to being the most common, the third series therefore does not have a tachymeter, uses baton markers for the hours, round buttons but retains the acrylic crystal of its predecessors.

Silvered and Gold dial

First introduced in 1954, this amazing 36mm timepiece formalized the design iconography of Patek Philippe's famous perpetual chronographs with side-by-side windows for day and month at 12 o'clock, and date and moonphase indicator fused into one subdial at six o'clock. By this point, Patek Philippe had replaced the ref. 1518's avant-gardist Arabic indices with simple, sleek baton markers that added greater clarity to the perpetual calendar display.

Splendid Movement

A two pusher chronograph movement (seconds on "9") with minute counter (on "3").  

That's the base for the Patek Philippe ref. 1518 as well as for other Patek Philippe "simple" chronos and rattrapantes of that period. The perpetual calendar part is Patek Philippe (and has nothing to do with Valjoux's own calendar versions, which are simple calendars) . Like the ref. 1518, the ref. 2499 used the Valjoux calibre 23VZ.

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Features

Brand: Patek Philippe

Model: Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

Reference Number: 2499/100

Movement: Calibre 13"

Diameter: 37.5mm

Case Material: Yellow Gold 18kt

Dial Color: silvered, relief hours

Strap/Bracelet: lether

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