PATEK PHILIPPE Nautilus early « baton minute track » 3700/01A
MODEL: Nautilus
REFERENCE: 3700
YEAR: 1977
CASE DIMENSIONS: 42mm, thickness 7.6mm
CASE MATERIAL: stainless steel, original Patek Philippe
DIAL: Blue dial batons minute track
INDEX: 18k white gold applied hour markers with tritium
MOVEMENT: Automatic with date, caliber 28-255 C, self-winding
BEZEL MATERIAL: stainless steel bezel, original
BRACELET: stainless steel, Nautilus large bracelet /01A
CLASP: stainless steel folding clasp « BREVETÉ », original
GLASS: Sapphire crystal
PAPERS: extract from the archives
The presented timepiece is a very early original Jumbo sold in 1977. Its movement was made as early as 1974 while the Nautilus was neither yet decided nor a public project making this piece one of the earliest.
Serial/movement: 1,302,xxx/xxx.585
Dial: Patek Philippe has asked to the designer Gerald Genta to come up with a deep blue/grey dial reflecting «the true color of the ocean» for this water sports watch. The first version of the dial had a minute track with hash aka « baton minute track » later replaced by dots from around September 1977 onwards. In the classification of the scholar mstanga in « a study of Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 3700 » this is a dial «type 1». Only about 40 surfaced to the market so far. The dial color of the present timepiece has turned into a petrol blue which is a patina evolution from its manufacturing time. The tritium of the hands and index has aged turning into a beige hue bringing a very pleasant contrast with the dial to the eye. They works perfectly glowing green then vanishing.
Case: The bezel is very thick preserving its initial proportions of the porthole pattern which is characteristic of the Nautilus reference. The number 585 is engraved in the hinge of the bezel matching the last 3 digit of the case and proving it is original.
Bracelet: large bracelet (/01A) with 17 links. It is still holding up highlighting its good condition. It is estimated that 2500 Nautilus ref.3700 were made with this large bracelet /01A out of a total of 3500 Nautilus in steel.
Box / papers: the watch comes with its original cover box, original black leather & beige velvet box typical of this early Nautilus and the Patek Philippe extract from the archives.
This is one of the truly rare opportunity to grab a complete set of this legendary watch in such a beautiful condition.
