Hello Susan,
Thank you for sending in this wristwatch to mearto.com for an appraisal.
Unfortunately, you do not supply the reference number, serial number or size of the case. Patek Philippe made tens of thousands of models. Chance are good you do not know any of these numbers since so much time has passed. The numbers are on the inside of the back cover which likely would pop open if you knew how to do that.
TITLE:
Gent’s 18k yellow gold, manually wound, Calatrava wrist watch with 18k gold basket weave bracelet with hallmarked fold over clasp, dress watch, variant of the reference 1590, perhaps the ref. 1578 with center seconds, Case number ?, serial number?, made by Patek Philippe starting in the 1940s, this example bearing the date 1952 on the back cover.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: (size not supplied) Diameter estimated at 35mm not counting the winding crown. This is a wide round wristwatch case for those years, polished, with lapidated dart shaped lugs with turned-back ends. The 18k gold bezel is polished and slightly canted with gold fluted manual winding crown and a pan shaped 18k gold back cover bearing the inscription, ‘C. Barbarisi, 1952’ the likely owner. This men’s dress watch is integrated beautifully with a basket weave of 18k gold mesh bracelet with hallmarked fold over clasp.
Dial: This is a round silvered off-white metal dial with applied Arabic hours at the quarters and applied gold dart shaped hours indices at the balance of the hours. The twelve and six are upright and the three and nine are placed on their sides (a pretty good indication of 1940’s styling). There are gilt metal Feuille (leaf hands) hands and steel center seconds pointer, and the dial is marked “Patek Philippe, Geneve”.
Movement: NOT SHOWN – This movement is a manually wound example and is not self-winding. It is most likely the Patek Philippe calibre 12"'-120, a rhodiumed, damascene decorated, 18 jewel, lever escapement with monometallic balance adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring with Swiss made micrometer regulator. Dial, case and movement are triple signed.
CONDITION:
Case: The front and back of the case seems to have survived the years with only modest amount of surface scratches and no major damage. Very good condition.
Dial: The lower part of the dial has some scuffing and smudges, but generally it remains in very good condition with original hands.
Movement: Of course this movement is not shown, and my educated guess is just that, a guess. It should be a bridge plate movement, having a half plate, curved center wheel-bridge and two small jeweled curved finger bridges. The engraved writing on the plates should be in gold and say, “eighteen jewels, adjusted to five positions, three adjustments for “heat, cold and isochronism”. What follows is the serial number, then “Patek Philippe, Geneve, Swiss”. The watch should have the mark of the “Geneva Seal” on the plates, earned by the company and used on their watches as a trademark.
Of note is that all ref. 1590 watch movements were not the calibre 12"'-120. Some used the 12’’’600AT calibre.
DEFINING THE CALATRAVA WATCH:
The Patek Philippe Calatrava is a line of dress watches built by the premier Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe, introduced in 1932. These watches are considered the flagship model of Patek Philippe. The first version of the Calatrava was launched in 1932, inspired by the Bauhaus principle. The most popular model in the Calatrava range was the 3919, with the guilloché “Clous de Paris” bezel, introduced in 1985. After 21 years, it was replaced in March 2006 by the slightly larger 5119 model. This change in size reflected a growing trend for larger watches. Another famous model was the 96, whose modern incarnation is the considerably larger 5196. Some Calatravas feature a date function, whereas others display only hours and minutes. Current prices start from around US$19,000 Models in the 2014 Calatrava range have either automatic or manual movements. Patek have developed a quartz movement but it is not currently used in the Calatrava range.
IMPROVING THE PRECISION OF THE DATING AND THE MOVEMENT:
Please remember that all of the information I need is engraved on the inside of the back cover and the movement. If you know a jeweler in your area you can ask him to open the back cover for you (it is made to be opened for service), and you take photos of the inside of the cover with all of its numbers and words and a photo of the movement while writing down the serial number on the movement. If you send those photos and information to me I can have a basis to be more precise about the dating and nature of your wonderful gold wristwatch.
PRICING:
~https://www.chrono24.com/patekphilippe/patek-philippe-patek-philippe-calatrava-18k-rose-gold--id19362415.htm (Here is a similar watch design without the gold mesh bracelet on the semi-retail website of chrono-24 which is offered for $15595)
~https://www.chrono24.com/patekphilippe/calatrava-18k-gelbgold-handaufzug-herrenuhr-gold-ref-1578--id23225080.htm (Here again is an 18k gold ref. 1578 offered on chrono24 for $12800. Note the pie-pan shaped back cover.)
~https://www.chrono24.com/patekphilippe/1578-vintage-18k-yellow-gold-mens-watch--id22376893.htm (On the same website this example sells for $11000)
Some of the retail values will come in at $30000-$35000, on average.
My belief is that if we add $5000 for the solid 18k gold mesh bracelet, which is unfortunately out of date in today's market, I believe that the fair market value of your Patek Philippe Calatrava wristwatch would have a fair market value in the range of $17500-$19000.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for you appraisal, and remember you can always bring me updated information about this watch and I can re-evaluate this appraisal.
My best,
David