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Lot Essay
Introduced into the market in 1962, reference 3448 was the first automatic perpetual calendar wristwatch produced in series by any manufacturer.
According to scholarship, a total of 586 examples were made, the majority in yellow gold cases.
Reference 3448 was fitted with the celebrated caliber 27-460, amongst the most sophisticated and lavish automatic movements ever made. It was later upgraded with Patek Philippe's patented perpetual mechanism fitted on the movement plate underneath the dial and renamed 27-460 QB. The cases were made by Antoine Gerlach, specialised case-maker for ‘Calatrava’ and ‘modern’ shape cases for Patek Philippe, for instance the pocket watch ref. 844 or the ref. 3445 mono-date wrist-watch.
This model is the perfect embodiment of a transitional period in the evolution of watchmaking design. Wristwatches had moved from the flamboyant cases and multi-tone sector dials of the 1920s and 1930s, to the military-flavoured creations of the 1940s, with telemeter and tachymeter railroad scales. With the 1950s and 60s a new trend took shape: the technological advances of the time inspired, in all fields of design, futuristic shapes and cleaner looks. This watch perfectly epitomizes such trend: the dial is pared-down to the extreme, a remarkable feat of design considered that, after all, this is still a perpetual calendar with moon phases and as such the amount of information that the dial has to display is quite substantial. The case is a triumph of clean looks and sharp edges: the circular polished case with flat satin-finished band and generous sloping blank bezel looks decades away from the construction of previous models.
As standard, reference 3448 can be found with four kinds of dial over the period of its production:
-with enamelled small baton minute divisions (1962 to 1965)
-with beady minute divisions and small date ring (1965 to 1972)
-with beady minute divisions and large date ring (1971 to 1978)
-with printed (not enamelled) small baton minute divisions after 1978
Literature Reference 3448 is illustrated in: Patek Philippe Museum - Patek Philippe Watches - Volume II, p. 296.
Patek Philippe Wristwatches, Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, p. 288.
Ref. 3448 is also illustrated in: Blue Book 1, by
Eric Tortella, 2018 edition, pp. 540 to 581.
Ore d'Oro, Jader Barracca, Giampiero Negretti and Franco Nencini, p. 45.
According to scholarship, a total of 586 examples were made, the majority in yellow gold cases.
Reference 3448 was fitted with the celebrated caliber 27-460, amongst the most sophisticated and lavish automatic movements ever made. It was later upgraded with Patek Philippe's patented perpetual mechanism fitted on the movement plate underneath the dial and renamed 27-460 QB. The cases were made by Antoine Gerlach, specialised case-maker for ‘Calatrava’ and ‘modern’ shape cases for Patek Philippe, for instance the pocket watch ref. 844 or the ref. 3445 mono-date wrist-watch.
This model is the perfect embodiment of a transitional period in the evolution of watchmaking design. Wristwatches had moved from the flamboyant cases and multi-tone sector dials of the 1920s and 1930s, to the military-flavoured creations of the 1940s, with telemeter and tachymeter railroad scales. With the 1950s and 60s a new trend took shape: the technological advances of the time inspired, in all fields of design, futuristic shapes and cleaner looks. This watch perfectly epitomizes such trend: the dial is pared-down to the extreme, a remarkable feat of design considered that, after all, this is still a perpetual calendar with moon phases and as such the amount of information that the dial has to display is quite substantial. The case is a triumph of clean looks and sharp edges: the circular polished case with flat satin-finished band and generous sloping blank bezel looks decades away from the construction of previous models.
As standard, reference 3448 can be found with four kinds of dial over the period of its production:
-with enamelled small baton minute divisions (1962 to 1965)
-with beady minute divisions and small date ring (1965 to 1972)
-with beady minute divisions and large date ring (1971 to 1978)
-with printed (not enamelled) small baton minute divisions after 1978
Literature Reference 3448 is illustrated in: Patek Philippe Museum - Patek Philippe Watches - Volume II, p. 296.
Patek Philippe Wristwatches, Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, p. 288.
Ref. 3448 is also illustrated in: Blue Book 1, by
Eric Tortella, 2018 edition, pp. 540 to 581.
Ore d'Oro, Jader Barracca, Giampiero Negretti and Franco Nencini, p. 45.