A Humble Patek Philippe Ref. 3800/1

Let’s put aside for a (brief) moment the growing excitement over the upcoming sale of an ultra-rare platinum Patek Ref 2499 owned by Eric Clapton to take a look at a more humble Patek.   The Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref 3800/1 you see here was sold today at auction by Fellows of London.   As judged by its hammer price (7800 GBP/$12,500), one could say that this particular Nautilus is nothing super special, and I recognize that.  But the reason I had my eye on this piece was not because it was of great provenance, but because of its dial design.

You see, I can’t recall the last time I  saw a Patek Nautilus with Roman numeral hour markers.  Of course it is possible that I do not look at enough Patek’s, but in my mind I’ve always associated the Patek Nautilus with its baton-style hour markers (like the current Ref 5711, for example).  Even the Ref 3800s that I have discovered — most from the 1980′s and 90′s — have baton hour markers.

And it is because of this divergence — from what I think a Patek Philippe Nautilus looks like vs. what I see here — I thought it worth sharing.  Thoughts?

Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref 3800/1

37mm stainless steel case, glossy black dial with gold luminous Roman numeral hour markers, date aperture, outer minute track, “good” condition, with box and papers

 Patek calibre 330/194

Hammered by Fellows for 7800 GBP, October 15, 2012