Footnotes

The very first wristwatch was made for a woman, Countess Koscowicz of Hungary, by Patek Philippe in 1868. Although it was the first timekeeping device to be designed specifically for use on the wrist, it was intended primarily as a piece of decorative jewellery.

It has been claimed that pocket watches were adapted to be worn on wrist bracelets prior to 1868, perhaps as early as the 1570's. However, there is no concrete evidence to support this, and Patek Philippe's design for Countess Koscowicz was the first true wristwatch in the modern sense of the word. Wristwatches were a natural progression from pocket watches, but men did not initially take to the idea, preferring to rely on the larger, more traditional (and masculine) timepiece. However, the practicalities of the wristwatch, which could be operated with one hand rather than two, eventually won over popular opinion, appealing especially to those in the military, who needed to be able to monitor the time while also operating machinery and weaponry.

Consequently, the first wristwatches to be produced in large quantities were those manufactured specifically for the German military in the 1880s by Swiss watchmaker Girard-Perregaux.

This particular watch by Patek Philippe is one of the earliest purpose made wristwatches to come to auction and is furthermore confirmed by the Extract from Archives.

Miss Louisa Hilbery, an authoress and Matron of a Nursing home, purchased this watch before her marriage to Colonel Edmund Moritz Illington in 1895. They resided in India where he worked as a doctor in the Indian Medical Corps, before returning to England where they lived in Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington.

Mr. Wallace Jefferies worked as their butler and general factotum. When Colonel Illington died in 1947, Wallace was left the residue of the estate after specific bequests, including this bracelet watch, and an income from the Kensington house rental until his own death in 1955.

This watch is being sold by the goddaughter of Mr. Wallace Jefferies.