One of a kind: the Patek Philippe 3843/1, created with one of the largest portrait diamonds ever seen

Very few people are able to commission a bespoke watch from Patek Philippe. You might even be able to count the number who can on both hands.

‘To be able to make such a request, you’d have to be in the top one per cent of clients. But you’d probably also have to know personally Philippe and Thierry Stern, the father and son who own and run the business,’ explains Nitin Nair, associate specialist in our Watches department in Dubai.

In 1990, one such client presented Patek Philippe with a challenge. Walking into the company’s Geneva salon — its flagship boutique since 1853 — they unveiled an incredibly large, rare antique diamond, and asked if a bespoke watch could be made with the jewel in place of the usual sapphire crystal. Patek Philippe was happy to oblige.

Four years later, on 18 January 1994, the finished timepiece was presented to the customer in the same store. That watch will now be offered in Watches Online: The Dubai Edit, from 5 to 19 October 2023.

‘This is an incredible Patek Philippe,’ says Remy Julia, Dubai Head of Watches. ‘The sale is a truly rare opportunity for even the most seasoned collector to acquire an extremely special watch.’

It’s a unique, one-of-one reference 3843, featuring a 177-calibre manual-winding movement, a bespoke 18ct white-gold bracelet and a custom dial finished in Patek Philippe’s signature sunburst blue.

The diamond, set in a way that pays homage to the asymmetrical models Patek Philippe produced from the 1950s to the 1970s, was mounted in a specially designed, watertight case, which has the stone’s impressive weight carved into the reverse for posterity: 13.43 carats.

At first glance, the crystal appears like any other. It’s only under raking light that the two tiny rows of facets running around its edge light up like a mirrorball to indicate that this is in fact a cut gemstone.

Diamonds with these distinct characteristics — thinly cleaved, colourless and of exceptional clarity — are called ‘lasque’ diamonds. Between the 17th and 19th centuries they were often used as glazing for miniature paintings, earning them the alternative label ‘portrait diamonds’.

According to jewellery historian Diana Scarisbrick, ‘Reflections from the facets light up the portrait, the highly polished limpid surface lets the subject shine through with far more éclat than crystal, and also draws the eye towards it. Only the very clearest stones could obtain this magical effect.’

This is what makes portrait diamonds an ideal substitute for a watch’s crystal — albeit a costly one.

Historically, portrait diamonds were almost solely the preserve of royalty. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, commissioner of the Taj Mahal, was painted in 1616 wearing a treasured portrait diamond mounted on his turban. In 1820, the Russian Tsar Alexander I covered a tiny image of himself, set in a bracelet, with a portrait diamond weighing around 25 carats — thought by some to be the biggest in existence.

The Patek Philippe’s weighty portrait diamond is possibly the world’s third largest, bigger than examples owned by Empress Marie Louise — the wife of Napoleon — and King George IV.

‘The identity of the person who turned this diamond into a watch remains a mystery,’ says Nair. ‘Some people think it might be the same person who commissioned the only other Patek Philippe crafted around a large diamond, the reference 3928T, which has a 9.44-carat stone set in the back of the case.’

That watch, completed in 2003, sold for $737,000 in 2014.

Ref. 3843/1 has appeared at auction once before, in 2016 at Christie’s in Hong Kong, realising HK$3,480,000. Prior to that, almost no one knew it existed.

‘Since the 2016 sale, the watch has been the subject of a study by one of the world’s foremost Patek Philippe scholars, Eric Tortella,’ says Nair. ‘It has remained with the same collector and is now being offered at Christie’s in Dubai alongside other watches from his collection, which has a focus on custom-order pieces.’

The market for unique luxury timepieces is growing fast, says the specialist. ‘But finding anything bespoke is a rare occurrence. And as for this watch, considering it’s a Patek Philippe — alongside the size and importance of the diamond — selling it is an occasion I doubt will happen again in my career.’