PATEK PHILIPPE ROSE GOLD MINIATURE WATCH

Patek Philippe made ‘custom invoice’ watches for over 50 different Patek Philippe American retailers. These watches are distinguished as having the name of the retailer engraved on the movement as well as Patek Philippe. Often, as we see here, only the retailer’s name is seen on the dial. With this watch, the case was made domestically here in the United States and we can see the case signed ‘Marcus & Co.’, the dial (made by Sterns Freres for Patek Philippe) is signed Marcus & Co. And the movement is double signed Patek Philippe and Marcus & Co. This kind of bespoke work for the American market literally helped keep Patek Philippe in business in the first quarter of the 20th century. Here we have a stunning example from the era with an elegant coat-of-arms on the caseback featuring the motto “Semper Fidelis” translated from Latin as Always Faithful. This is the motto of the United States Marine Corps as well as the motto of numerous families and schools, etc. Further research into the coat of arms revealed that it originally belonged to Dominick Lynch, a prominent wine merchant and supporter of George Washington. This beautiful timepiece may have belonged to one of his descendants.

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