755,200 HKD
“The Early Ref. 3970E” Patek Philippe & Cie, Genève, No. 875290, case No. 2851168 Ref. 3970E. Sold on March 14th, 1989. 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 the original fitted box, setting pin and certificate of origin. Property of a Japanese Collector 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, selfcompensating free-sprung Breguet balance-spring. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness 12 mm. Notes Ref. 3970 It was once possible for astute collectors to acquire unusual and extremely rare Ref. 3970s for a very reasonable price. Since that time, however, several factors have contributed to a sudden and sharp (but not entirely surprising) rise in value for this watch. The Ref. 3970 is now truly considered a classic by collectors, following in the footsteps of its predecessors
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-11-25
