$225,000
“The First 3970” Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, No. 875000, case No. 2824130, Ref. 3970. Made in 1986. Very fine and extremely rare, astronomic, 18K yellow gold gentleman’s wristwatch with round button chronograph, register, perpetual calendar, moon phases, snap-on back, two-tone dial and an 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe buckle. Accompanied by an Extract from the Archives. Three-body, solid, polished, concave bezel, fluted curved lugs. Two-tone silver with applied yellow gold indexes, subsidiary dials for the seconds, the 24-hour and 30-minute register, the leap year and the days of the month, apertures for the day, months and moon phases. Yellow gold “feuille” hands. Cal. 27-70 Q, stamped with the Geneva Quality Hallmark, rhodium-plated, “fausses côtes” decoration, 24 jewels, straight line lever escapement, Gyromax balance adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, shock-absorber, self-compensating free-sprung Breguet balance-spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness 12 mm. Notes The 3970 was introduced to replace the successful model Ref. 2499, which had been produced from 1951 to 1985. Thanks to the explosive popularity of collecting vintage Patek Philippe wristwatches during the early 1980s, collectors had discovered the extreme rarity and enduring value associated with these timepieces. In a rare breach of Patek’s legendary secrecy, it was discovered that fewer than 400 pieces of Ref. 2499 timepieces, including the last evolution, the
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-09-28
