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Lot Essay
Offered here for the first time at auction, this very attractive yellow gold 3448 impresses with crisp gold hallmarks on the back of the lugs, the interior of the caseback also bears English import hallmarks for 1972-3. The dial is in unspoiled condition, without the slightest trace of intervention, the printed signatures and scales beautifully raised as one would except.
This 3448 is notable for its very early use of a “4th series” dial, extremely uncommon for the date of its manufacture. As standard, reference 3448 can be found with four kinds of dial over the period of its production:
-with enamelled small baton minute divisions (1962 to 1965)
-with beady minute divisions and small date ring (1965 to 1972)
-with beady minute divisions and large date ring (1971 to 1978)
-with printed (not enamelled) small baton minute divisions after 1978
However, the present watch, made in 1973, is fitted with the printed small baton minute divisions version and with the “Aprior” symbols flanking the word “Swiss” at 6 o’clock. In isolation, it could be assumed that the dial may be later, however, as is often the case with Patek Philippe manufacture, there are notable exceptions to the known chronology. In fact the “Aprior” type dial was in existence since 1972 but was hardly ever used on the reference 3448 before 1978 because sufficient stock of the so-called ‘beady’ style dials had already been manufactured.
In-depth research has shown that a very small number of 3448s made in the early 1970s, including the present watch and the watch sold to Henry Graves’s grandson, Reginald H. Fullerton Jr., both sold in 1973. In fact the Fullerton 3448 is only six movement numbers and two case numbers away from the present watch, both are fitted with this dial type, therefore confirming that this dial series was occasionally being used on the 3448 during those years. The present watch is, to the best of our knowledge, the earliest known example of reference 3448 fitted with the “Aprior” dial type.
Movement no. Case no. Case Colour & Dial Type Year of Manufacture
1'119'312 330'588 yellow gold “Aprior” dial 1973 The Present Watch
1’119’318 330’586 yellow gold “Aprior” dial 1973 Sold to Reginald H. Fullerton Jr.
Reference 3448
Introduced into the market in 1962, reference 3448 was the first automatic perpetual calendar wristwatch produced in series by any manufacturer. According to leading scholars, a total of 586 examples were made, the majority in yellow gold cases. Only around 130 were cased in white gold, 2 in platinum and 1 in pink gold are known to exist to date.
This model is the perfect embodiment of a transitional period in the evolution of watchmaking design. Wristwatches had moved from the flamboyant cases and multi-tone sector dials of the 1920s and 1930s, to the military-flavoured creations of the 1940s, with telemetre and tachymetre railroad scales. With the 1950s and 60s a new trend took shape: the technological advances of the time inspired, in all fields of design, futuristic shapes and cleaner looks. This watch perfectly epitomizes such trend: the dial is clean to the extreme, a remarkable feat of design considered that, after all, this is still a perpetual calendar with moon phases and as such the amount of information that the dial has to display is quite abundant. The case is a triumph of clean looks and sharp edges: the circular polished case with flat satin-finished band and generous sloped blank bezel looks decades away from the construction of previous models.
This 3448 is notable for its very early use of a “4th series” dial, extremely uncommon for the date of its manufacture. As standard, reference 3448 can be found with four kinds of dial over the period of its production:
-with enamelled small baton minute divisions (1962 to 1965)
-with beady minute divisions and small date ring (1965 to 1972)
-with beady minute divisions and large date ring (1971 to 1978)
-with printed (not enamelled) small baton minute divisions after 1978
However, the present watch, made in 1973, is fitted with the printed small baton minute divisions version and with the “Aprior” symbols flanking the word “Swiss” at 6 o’clock. In isolation, it could be assumed that the dial may be later, however, as is often the case with Patek Philippe manufacture, there are notable exceptions to the known chronology. In fact the “Aprior” type dial was in existence since 1972 but was hardly ever used on the reference 3448 before 1978 because sufficient stock of the so-called ‘beady’ style dials had already been manufactured.
In-depth research has shown that a very small number of 3448s made in the early 1970s, including the present watch and the watch sold to Henry Graves’s grandson, Reginald H. Fullerton Jr., both sold in 1973. In fact the Fullerton 3448 is only six movement numbers and two case numbers away from the present watch, both are fitted with this dial type, therefore confirming that this dial series was occasionally being used on the 3448 during those years. The present watch is, to the best of our knowledge, the earliest known example of reference 3448 fitted with the “Aprior” dial type.
Movement no. Case no. Case Colour & Dial Type Year of Manufacture
1'119'312 330'588 yellow gold “Aprior” dial 1973 The Present Watch
1’119’318 330’586 yellow gold “Aprior” dial 1973 Sold to Reginald H. Fullerton Jr.
Reference 3448
Introduced into the market in 1962, reference 3448 was the first automatic perpetual calendar wristwatch produced in series by any manufacturer. According to leading scholars, a total of 586 examples were made, the majority in yellow gold cases. Only around 130 were cased in white gold, 2 in platinum and 1 in pink gold are known to exist to date.
This model is the perfect embodiment of a transitional period in the evolution of watchmaking design. Wristwatches had moved from the flamboyant cases and multi-tone sector dials of the 1920s and 1930s, to the military-flavoured creations of the 1940s, with telemetre and tachymetre railroad scales. With the 1950s and 60s a new trend took shape: the technological advances of the time inspired, in all fields of design, futuristic shapes and cleaner looks. This watch perfectly epitomizes such trend: the dial is clean to the extreme, a remarkable feat of design considered that, after all, this is still a perpetual calendar with moon phases and as such the amount of information that the dial has to display is quite abundant. The case is a triumph of clean looks and sharp edges: the circular polished case with flat satin-finished band and generous sloped blank bezel looks decades away from the construction of previous models.