8074Σ︎
Patek Philippe
Ref. 3886J
A well-preserved and rare yellow gold skeletonized wristwatch with engraved dial
Full-Cataloguing
- Fully skeletonized movement
- Only a handful of these engraved skeletonized watches were made each year
- Each watch has slight differences in the engraving pattern
- Patek Philippe skeletonizing movements could be traced back to as early as 1860s in their pocket watches. The art was brought back to the manufacturer in the late 1970s in the form of pocket watches. It was not until the 1980s that Patek Philippe started to apply this art to wristwatches.
- The Ellipse, Patek Philippe’s line of luxury Golden Ratio dresswatches, was the first to feature skeletonized movements. It is believed there are 8 skeletonized references in the 1980s and 1990s. After the first skeletonized ref. 3880 was introduced, the ref. 3886 was released shortly after.
- Much like the other skeletonized references, the present example also features gold bridges that are fully hand-engraved, only the setting mechanism, mainspring, and parts of the escapement are made of steel.
- The watch operates on the cal. 177 manual winding movement, which was widely used in Ellipse manual winding watches. Engraving on the ultra-thin movement requires the best craftsmanship, in which the extreme difficulty yield low production numbers. Even bearing the same reference number, each watch is unique on its own as the pattern depends on the choice of the engraver.
Patek Philippe
Swiss | 1839Since its founding in 1839, this famous Geneva-based firm has been surprising its clientele with superbly crafted timepieces fitted with watchmaking's most prestigious complications. Traditional and conservative designs are found across Patek Philippe's watches made throughout their history — the utmost in understated elegance.
Well-known for the Graves Supercomplication — a highly complicated pocket watch that was the world’s most complicated watch for 50 years — this family-owned brand has earned a reputation of excellence around the world. Patek's complicated vintage watches hold the highest number of world records for results achieved at auction compared with any other brand. For collectors, key models include the reference 1518, the world's first serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph, and its successor, the reference 2499. Other famous models include perpetual calendars such as the ref. 1526, ref. 3448 and 3450, chronographs such as the reference 130, 530 and 1463, as well as reference 1436 and 1563 split seconds chronographs. Patek is also well-known for their classically styled, time-only "Calatrava" dress watches, and the "Nautilus," an iconic luxury sports watch first introduced in 1976 as the reference 3700 that is still in production today.