The Complete History of Patek Philippe Replica's Perpetual Calendars
A Controversy and a Unique Piece
Okay, so all perpetual calendar watches, while capable of adding 29th to February on leap year, had one problem. They didn't have a display to show you where you are in the leap year cycle, which made it difficult to adjust your watch. It wasn't until 1981, when the reference 3450 perpetual calendar watch was launched that a regular production perpetual clock watch would have an aperture that showed you the location of your leap-year cycle. It would not be until 1985 that a subdial with a complete display of the cycle would be available,franck muller replica
thanks to the simultaneous launch the 3940 perpetual calendar chronograph and the 3970 perpetual clock chronograph.
Ref. 3450
Patek Philippe Replica had however already created a way to show this in 1975. They did exactly that for a 3448 unique gift that was given to a very special person. Alan Banbery was the author of the first official sanctioned book about Patek Philippe Replica. Nick Foulkes was the second. Nick Foulkes was a former Patek director. He is a legend in watchmaking. Banbery was awarded a 3448 in 1975. This watch was part of the second-series in yellow-gold and featured a small date ring. It dates back to 1970.Tag Heuer Formula 1 Replica
It featured a leap-year indicator instead of the usual moon phase display. The inner subdial was divided in four quadrants that each represented a year of the four-year cycle. The "leap year" was designated in the upper right. The three other quadrants represent one of the years preceding it. The leap year was visible for the first time. This exact format was used by Patek to display the leap year indicator in the subdial at 3:00 in both the 3940, and 3970.
Unique ref. Unique ref.
According to the legend, Patek's master watchmaker Max Berney had the movement reworked by Patek so that this modification could occur. Stern Freres created a unique dial. This watch was auctioned at Christie's in 2008. The watch was purchased at auction for SFr.1,840,000. It has never been seen again. This watch is a treasure that is unique and historical.
One variant of the 3448 was controversial at one time. It appeared on the auction block in the early 2000s. Because there was doubt about their legitimacy, I use the term "controversial". This story is well documented by Cara Barrett of Hodinkee. The general consensus was that these dials were experimental or prototypes made by Stern Freres but not intended to be used in production 3448 watches. This is supported by the fact that all the watches that were sold at auction had the corrector for moon phase, even though they didn't display it on the dial. This is completely out of line with Patek's tradition of perfectionionism.
Ref. 3450
Successor to the 3448. Made between 1981 and 1985 with 244 examples.panerai replica
The calibre 27-460QB QB was used to power the leap-year indicator. This updated version of 1962's base calibre was launched in 1962.
Ref. 3450
The 3450 was launched in 1981 and produced for five years in only 244 examples. The 3450 was essentially identical to the fourth-series 3448 watches. However, there was one crucial difference. A round aperture is located between the three- and four-o'clock indexes. This aperture shows you where you are in the leap year cycle. In order to indicate where you are in the three-year period leading up to the leap year, earlier watches used Arabic numbers from 1 to 3. Later watches used Roman numerals.Patek Philippe Replica
The aperture changes to a distinctive red color in the leap year. The return of the centrally-mounted seconds hand marks the 3450 mark, something that has not been seen on a Patek perpetual clock since the 2497/2438-1. This reference's movement is the calibre 27,460 QB. Only two of the 244 examples were made in white gold, the rest with yellow gold. A yellow-gold version is available for US$200,000-300,00, while a white version was sold by Phillips in 2015 at US$1.5million.
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