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"The Packard" was commissioned by James Ward Packard in 1927, and is one of the most complicated Patek Philippe watches ever made; it includes a minute repeater, perpetual calendar, running equation of time (equation of time marchant), and sunrise and sunset times. As well, the back has a highly detailed star chart, showing the stars visible at any time of year rising and setting in the sky above Warren, Ohio--Packard's birthplace.

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There is an excellent book about JW's watches and the rivalry with Henry Graves to build the greatest collection of the greatest timepieces. The book is titled "A Grand Complication, The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch", by Stacy Perman. Excellent reading and some details on JW's early professional life not found elsewhere to my knowledge.

Copyright 2013, ISBN 978-1-4391-9008-1, Atria Books, division of Simon & Schuster.

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Interesting info. Thanks for sharing. It prompted me to do some additional research. He (JWP) must have been quite the collector to have commissioned 13 Patek Philippe watches.

In December 1999, one of the most complicated watches ever made became the most expensive watch ever sold when it was hammered down for $11 million at Sotheby's .

The gold pocket watch, which featured 24 complications, was the result of a long-standing competition between two magnates of America's Gilded Age. New York financier Henry Graves Jr. Henry Graves Jr. and Ohio automobile engineer James Ward Packard James Ward Packard vied with one another to own a timepiece with the greatest possible number of complications. (Complications are mechanical functions of the watch other than the hours, minutes and seconds.) Packard commissioned 13 complicated watches from Patek Philippe between 1900 and 1927. They included a perpetual calendar with phases and age of the moon, indication of sunrise and sunset, and a celestial chart depicting the constellations of stars in the sky over Packard's home in Ohio.

Not to be outdone, Henry Graves Jr. also commissioned a series of complicated watches from Patek Philippe, culminating in a timepiece that took three years to design and five years to produce. When completed in 1933, the watch had a different horological function for each hour of the day and included a chart of the nighttime sky over Graves' home in New York.

Graves died in 1953, and his heirs sold the watch to the Time Museum in Rockford, Ill., in 1968. When the museum closed, the watch was among 80 other pieces from the collection that were deaccessioned and sold at Sotheby's in 1999. All together, they brought $28 million. The Graves watch had a presale estimate of $3 million to $5 million, and sold for $11,003,500 to an anonymous collector.
Forbes Fact

In 1989, Patek Philippe created the world's most complicated timepiece, the Caliber 89, in celebration of the firm's 150th anniversary. A pocket watch like the Graves and the Packard, the Caliber 89 has 33 functions and 1,728 unique parts. Its complications include the date of Easter, sidereal time and a celestial chart with 2,800 stars.

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That is one beautiful watch!