Important Collectors' Wristwatches, P...

Hong Kong, Jul 10, 2005

LOT 404

?3971 Special Dial? Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, No. 875021, case No. 2824151, Ref. 3971. Made circa 1985. Very fine and very rare, astronomic, 18K yellow gold gentleman's wristwatch with special made-to-order dial, round button chronograph, registers, perpetual calendar, moon phases and an 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe buckle. Accompanied by the Extract from the Archives and the original silvered dial with bâton markers.

HKD 1,100,000 - 1,300,000

EUR 110,000 - 135,000 / USD 140,000 - 170,000

Sold: HKD 1,140,000

C. Three-body, solid, polished, concave bezel, snap-on transparentcase back, sapphire crystals. D. Satiné silver with appliedyellow gold Arabic numerals, subsidiary dials for the secondsand the 30-minute register, the 24 hours, the leap year, graduationfor the days of the month, apertures for the days of theweek, the months and the moon phases. Yellow gold "feuille"hands. M. Cal. 27-70 Q stamped with the Geneva Quality Hallmark,rhodium plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 24 jewels,straight line lever escapement, Gyromax balance adjusted forheat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, shock-absorber, selfcompensatingfree-sprung Breguet balance-spring.Dial, case and movement signed.Diam. 36 mm. Thickness 12 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 2

Very good
Dial: 2 - 01

Notes

The owner of this watch requested that Patek Philippe replace the original dial with one for a Ref. 5004. 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.