.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Consigned from the original owner, this fresh to the market early second series example of the extremely rare reference 3448 in white gold impresses with its beautifully preserved dial. A superlative highlight for the collector of rare timepieces. Furthermore, being made at the end of 1971, the dial is one of the very last to be only marked “Swiss” before the introduction of the flanking “Aprior” symbols. It is also one of very few dials to feature this type of “tumbling date” (days of the month around the moon-phases) where the numerals in the lower half are not reversed.
The case remains quite sharp, with edges and proportions very well preserved and showing signs of only the slightest repolishing over almost 50 years. The horizontal and angled surfaces are mirror polished and all vertical parts of the case are brushed, very close to the original finishing the day the watch came out the factory. The two hallmarks under the lugs on the opposite sides of the case are crisp and clearly visible.
The present watch is among the very best preserved examples so far identified and its fresh to the market status greatly enhances its rarity and appeal to the serious collector.
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 scholarship, 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.
Reference 3448 was fitted with the celebrated caliber 27-460, amongst the most sophisticated and lavish automatic movements ever made. It was later upgraded with Patek Philippe's patented perpetual mechanism fitted on the movement plate underneath the dial and renamed 27-460 QB. The cases were made by Antoine Gerlach, specialised case-maker for “Calatrava” and “modern” shape cases for Patek Philippe, for instance the pocket watch ref. 844 or the ref. 3445 mono-date wrist-watch.
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 telemeter and tachymeter 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 pared-down 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 substantial. The case is a triumph of clean looks and sharp edges: the circular polished case with flat satin-finished band and generous sloping blank bezel looks decades away from the construction of previous models.
We are grateful to Eric Tortella for his assistance and study in researching this watch.
Reference 3448 is illustrated in: Patek Philippe Museum - Patek Philippe Watches - Volume II, p. 296.
Patek Philippe Wristwatches, Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, p. 288.
Ref. 3448 is also illustrated in: Blue Book 1, by
Eric Tortella, 2018 edition, pp. 540 to 581.
The case remains quite sharp, with edges and proportions very well preserved and showing signs of only the slightest repolishing over almost 50 years. The horizontal and angled surfaces are mirror polished and all vertical parts of the case are brushed, very close to the original finishing the day the watch came out the factory. The two hallmarks under the lugs on the opposite sides of the case are crisp and clearly visible.
The present watch is among the very best preserved examples so far identified and its fresh to the market status greatly enhances its rarity and appeal to the serious collector.
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 scholarship, 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.
Reference 3448 was fitted with the celebrated caliber 27-460, amongst the most sophisticated and lavish automatic movements ever made. It was later upgraded with Patek Philippe's patented perpetual mechanism fitted on the movement plate underneath the dial and renamed 27-460 QB. The cases were made by Antoine Gerlach, specialised case-maker for “Calatrava” and “modern” shape cases for Patek Philippe, for instance the pocket watch ref. 844 or the ref. 3445 mono-date wrist-watch.
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 telemeter and tachymeter 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 pared-down 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 substantial. The case is a triumph of clean looks and sharp edges: the circular polished case with flat satin-finished band and generous sloping blank bezel looks decades away from the construction of previous models.
We are grateful to Eric Tortella for his assistance and study in researching this watch.
Reference 3448 is illustrated in: Patek Philippe Museum - Patek Philippe Watches - Volume II, p. 296.
Patek Philippe Wristwatches, Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, p. 288.
Ref. 3448 is also illustrated in: Blue Book 1, by
Eric Tortella, 2018 edition, pp. 540 to 581.