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The Patek Philippe 1518 from H.H. Windsor JR. at Phillips auctions

The Patek Philippe 1518 from H.H. Windsor JR. at Phillips auctions

H.H. (Henry Haven) Windsor, founder of “Popular Mechanics” magazine in 1902, died in 1924 and left his then 26 year old son H.H. (Henry) Windsor.

(Source 1, Source 2: The story of Popular Mechanics, Wikipedia, archive of PP)

 

You are probably looking at the beginning of this blog contribition like it came from Mars?  Well, this is about an amazing Patek Philippe reference 1518 in rosegold for sale at Phillips, to be precise about lot 196.

Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 rosegold from H.H. Windsor of Popular Mechanics magazine
Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 rosegold from H.H. Windsor of Popular Mechanics magazine

 

I do not want to rewrite the pressrelease, but I would like to enlighten watchcollectors about the engraving on the back of the watch.  I saw so many blogposts about this watch, but nobody wrote about the engraving on the back.  A bit surprising to me, as that is a very interesting engraving.

Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 rosegold from H.H. Windsor of Popular Mechanics magazine
Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 rosegold from H.H. Windsor of Popular Mechanics magazine (both pictures taken from the Phillips auction site)

 

According to Hodinkee, there were only 281 one references 1518 made.  Of these, only 44 were made in rosegold.  Making this a truly rare timepiece.  But the history behind it seems to be interesting as well.

 

Back to the engraving.  As it says “Presented to H.H. Windsor JR.”, it had to be given to the son of H.H. Windsor, the original founder of “Popular Mechanics”, a very famous American magazine discussing technological inventions.  The magazine turned 50 in 1952, and apparently the employees and associates of the company pulled together to give the son of the founder this amazing timepiece.

That was a time when Europe was destroyed due to the war (2nd World War) while the US economy was booming as they won the war, but not only that, building the war machinery has brought wealth to the United States.

 

The magazine is still around and has been owned by Hearst since 1958.

 

One thing that I find interesting about collecting vintage timepieces is exactly the history behind some of them.  In this case, the first owner was a very prominent person in American business.  I am curious to see how much this watch will ultimately fetch.

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