There are grail watches, and then there’s the Patek Philippe ref. 1463 in stainless steel.

Patek Philippe ref. 1463

The Patek Philippe ref. 1463

As Patek Philippe Chronograph replica watch ’s first waterproof chronograph, the 1463 was a significant step forward for the watchmaker and bears many of the typical design details of that time. Despite its pedigree, the Patek Philippe ref. 1463 is a true sports chronograph, with its tachymeter scale along the rim of the dial, and the two sub-registers at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions.George wore it daily until he joined the fashionable Gezira Sporting Club as a member of its polo team, where it was placed in safekeeping until passing to his son in 2000.

First introduced in 1940, the 1463 was in continuous production until the late 1960s. Despite its relatively long production run, only about 750 were ever produced, most of those in yellow gold.

However, Patek Philippe did make a few steel versions of the 1463 over 25 years, which means that the references you find today won’t really have a standard look to them. Of the 20 or so steel 1463’s that are publicly known, there are many variations between dial colors, hand shapes, and numerals.

So what’s got us talking about the Patek Philippe ref. 1463? Well, besides the fact that it’s a historical and noteworthy Replica Patek Philippe Chronograph ref. 1463 watch, we recently had the privilege of selling one.

The Watch

This particular Patek Philippe ref. 1463 is a model from 1947. And for a watch almost 70 years old, it’s in fantastic shape.

As far as looks go, this watch has a white dial with some nice, consistent patina. The dial configuration features Arabic and baton numerals, railway minute divisions, and tachymeter scale.

Patek Philippe ref. 1463

The movement is protected by a screwback caseback for optimum water resistance, which was relatively uncommon for the time. Inside is a Patek Philippe cal. 13-130 movement, which is based on the Valjoux 23, one of the best manually wound chronograph movements of all time, which still runs smoothly after all this time.

Patek Philippe ref. 1463

It’s not often we get a watch like this across our (watchmaker) desk. So when a client of ours got in touch to sell one, we jumped at the chance. Especially because this particular watch came with such an interesting personal story that spans three family generations.

A Family History

The watch was originally purchased by the seller’s grandfather Evelpides in 1947 from Henri Stern himself on a trip to New York City. During that same trip, Evelpides secured exclusive rights to sell impressive fake Patek Philippe watches in Egypt, accompanying his selection of Longines, Rolex, and Tavennes watches. Among his customers, he counted King Farouk of Egypt and T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia). In the early 1950s, Evelpides hosted Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex, during his visit to Egypt, and the two became good friends (pictured below, along with Mr. Wilsdorf’s wife).

Evelpides then passed the watch to his son George in 1955, a graduate of Columbia University and the London School of Economics who had returned to the country to found the Investment Bank of Egypt.

How do you determine the value of a watch? In the secondhand market, the brand name, the model reputation, the model history all come into play—that’s excluding materials and other technical specs. For this Patek Philippe ref. 1463, its rarity certainly influences the price, but we think it’s the personal history of the collector that makes this watch stand out.