Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

New York, Mar 05, 2009

LOT 256

Yellow Gold Ref. 3971 E Patek Philippe, Genève, No. 875580, case No. 2856568, Ref. 3971 E. Made in 1990, sold on July 12th, 1990. Very fine and rare, astronomic, 18K yellow gold wristwatch with round button chronograph, registers, perpetual calendar, moon phases and an 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe buckle. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives.

USD 80,000 - 100,000

EUR 63,000 - 80,000 / CHF 95,000 - 120,000

Sold: USD 96,000

C. Two-body, solid, polished, concave bezel, fluted lugs, screwed-down transparent case back, sapphire crystals. D. Matte silver with applied yellow gold baton indexes, outer minute/seconds and 1/5th seconds divisions, subsidiary dials for the seconds, the 24-hour and 30-minute registers, the leap year and days of the month, apertures for the days of the week, the months and the moon phases. Yellow gold feuille hands. M. Cal. 27-70 Q, stamped with the Seal of Geneva quality mark, rhodium-plated, fausses cotes decoration, 24 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, Gyromax balance adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 8 positions, shock absorber, selfcompensating free-sprung Breguet balance spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness 13 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good

Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 1-01

As new

HANDS Original

Notes

Ref. 3970 and 3971.
When Patek Philippe first launched this new series of watches in 1986, Ref. 3970 was the model bearing a metallic back, while Ref. 3971 was equipped with a sapphire back. Very soon, the reference number of this model was standardized to Ref. 3970. In consequence, very few examples of the present watch bear Ref. 3971.
A similar watch is published in ?Patek Philippe Wristwatches?, by Martin Huber and Alan Banbery, 1998 Edition, p. 305.