拍品專文
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch with silvered dial and applied gold indexes in 1978 and its subsequent sale on 6 November 1979.
The reference 3448 offered here for sale impresses by its excellent, unspoilt overall condition. Locked away in a private collection for nearly three decades, it has hardly been worn and reveals the full potential in size and beauty this celebrated reference has to offer. Most obvious are the sharp and clean lines of the bezel and lugs and the crisp hallmarks underneath the lugs and on the snap on back. A noteworthy feature of the present watch is the sapphire crystal protecting the dial which was introduced in 1978 to reference 3448. Interestingly, due to the different fitting compared to the plastic version used for the first sixteen years of production, the bezel is also of different proportions and is more comparable to the type used for reference 3450, the succeeding model with leap year. It is understood that not even 10 of the total production of reference 3348 had the benefit of the sapphire crystal.
For a reference 3448 with blue dial see lot 158 in this auction.
Reference 3448, introduced to the market in 1962, was at the time the first self-winding perpetual calendar wristwatch. According to literature, a total of 586 examples were made, the majority in yellow gold cases. Few watches have been cased in white gold and only two examples in platinum are known to date.
Reference 3448 was fitted with the celebrated calibre 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 Q. In 1981, reference 3450 was introduced to the market with the improved 27'460 QB calibre. The model differs from its predecessor by the modified leap year indication, the eccentric small window at 4 o'clock. The first series was made with a simple red disk and Arabic numerals, the second with Roman I, II, III and IIII leap year indication.
Production of both reference 3448 and 3450 was discontinued in 1985 when reference 3940 was launched.
Reference 3448 is illustrated in Patek Philippe Wristwatches by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, p. 288 and in Ore d'Oro by Jader Barracca, Giampiero Negretti and Franco Nencini, p. 45.
The reference 3448 offered here for sale impresses by its excellent, unspoilt overall condition. Locked away in a private collection for nearly three decades, it has hardly been worn and reveals the full potential in size and beauty this celebrated reference has to offer. Most obvious are the sharp and clean lines of the bezel and lugs and the crisp hallmarks underneath the lugs and on the snap on back. A noteworthy feature of the present watch is the sapphire crystal protecting the dial which was introduced in 1978 to reference 3448. Interestingly, due to the different fitting compared to the plastic version used for the first sixteen years of production, the bezel is also of different proportions and is more comparable to the type used for reference 3450, the succeeding model with leap year. It is understood that not even 10 of the total production of reference 3348 had the benefit of the sapphire crystal.
For a reference 3448 with blue dial see lot 158 in this auction.
Reference 3448, introduced to the market in 1962, was at the time the first self-winding perpetual calendar wristwatch. According to literature, a total of 586 examples were made, the majority in yellow gold cases. Few watches have been cased in white gold and only two examples in platinum are known to date.
Reference 3448 was fitted with the celebrated calibre 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 Q. In 1981, reference 3450 was introduced to the market with the improved 27'460 QB calibre. The model differs from its predecessor by the modified leap year indication, the eccentric small window at 4 o'clock. The first series was made with a simple red disk and Arabic numerals, the second with Roman I, II, III and IIII leap year indication.
Production of both reference 3448 and 3450 was discontinued in 1985 when reference 3940 was launched.
Reference 3448 is illustrated in Patek Philippe Wristwatches by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, second edition, p. 288 and in Ore d'Oro by Jader Barracca, Giampiero Negretti and Franco Nencini, p. 45.