SIGNED PATEK PHILIPPE, GENEVE, ELLIPSE MODEL, REF. 3589/1, MOVEMENT NO. 1'288'131, CASE NO. 530'085, MANUFACTURED IN 1979

Superbly preserved and completely fresh to the market, the present wristwatch is amongst the rarest examples of the reference 3589 'Grande Ellipse' to be offered at auction. Not only distinguishing itself through the positioning of the quote 'The house belongs to the people, Col Muammar Gaddafi' on its dial, the wristwatch was directly commissioned by Muammar Gaddafi.

For his speech given on Labor Day in Libya in 1978, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi had commissioned Patek Philippe to manufacture a very small series of watches to commemorate this day. The watches were made in white gold with an integrated white gold bracelet. The dial colour was a reference to his 'Green Book'. The dial was further enhanced with part of Colonel Kadhaf’s personalized quote that can be translate by 'The house belongs to the people, Col Muammar Gaddafi'.

The present timepiece is one of only five known examples of the reference 3589/1 made for Colonel Gaddafi, however this is the only one featuring the quote 'The house belongs to the people, Col Muammar Gaddafi' on its dial. It is furthermore fitted with the earliest movement number of these five watches.

Reference 3589 'Grande Ellipse' was launched in 1970 and discontinued in 1979. It houses the calibre 28’255, the same automatic movement as the famous Jumbo Nautilus reference 3700.