Watch Dandy

Early today I wrote about a fascinating interview with Dr. Peter Friess, curator of the Patek Philippe Museum, penned by my friend John Reardon. There is really so much in that story, I can’t recommend it enough. But what might actually be the most illuminating thing that we touched on for a moment in our story, is that Patek Philippe recently acquired what very well could be the first perpetual calendar watch ever. That alone is worthy of a mention, but in our edit process (yes, every story you see on HODINKEE is reviewed by our whole senior editorial team to see how we can improve upon it) we discovered something even more incredible – Jack found where and when this Thomas Mudge perpetual calendar sold, and for how much, and that is what I think bears repeating here.

The Patek Philippe Museum is, without debate, the most important collection of watches in the world. Its curator, Dr. Peter Friess, is the man tasked with managing it, maintaining it, and indeed, continuing to build it. With a CV that contains the names Smithsonian and Getty, it is no surprise that Friess was selected to manage the Stern’s most prized possessions, but in this interview with our old friend and former HODINKEE contributor John Reardon, we learn much more about the man behind the collection (like, for example, did you know he once helped Steve Jobs disassemble a watch?) and the collection itself (did you know the very first perpetual calendar ever created for a portable timepiece was recently added? It was, a Thomas Mudge from 1726).