The quartz crisis of the late 1960s and early 1970s wreaked havoc on the Swiss watchmaking industry, forcing brands to compete with low-cost, battery-powered timepieces mass-produced by Japanese companies. They had a significant detrimental impact on the entire Swiss watchmaking industry due to their higher precision, which was driven by a quartz oscillator. Patek Philippe, for example, introduced the Nautilus model in 1976 as a stainless steel luxury sports watch to attract new watch enthusiasts seeking high-quality timepieces with a more casual, relaxed appeal.
Patek Philippe, along with other companies including Rolex, Omega, and Piaget, began researching quartz movements in the early years of this "quartz-reform" and formed the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH) in 1962. In 1966, the CEH introduced the Beta-1 movement, which gave extraordinary precision of just five seconds deviation each month. In 1969, the CEH released the ground-breaking Beta-21 movement, which delivered unprecedented accuracy of just five seconds deviation per month. The partnering brands agreed to make 6000 Beta-21 movements for the group to share.
The reference 3597/1 was Patek Philippe's first quartz wristwatch, debuting in Basel in 1969. At the time, it was Patek Philippe's largest diameter serially-produced wristwatch, measuring an astounding 43mm in diameter. The watch is a fusion of 1970s modernism, with a large cushion-shaped case and sumptuous and beautiful screw-down caseback. The current specimen, previously unknown to the market, weighs over 200 grams and has a gleaming blue dial with luminous hour markers and hands that have all aged beautifully over time. Recent research has shown that only two white gold fishscale bracelets were previously known. This Patek Philippe 3597/1 in overall excellent condition, is a watch with a unique place in history, having been introduced at a period when the world was changing dramatically, from politics to fashion, and aiming to counter challenges to the world of haute horlogerie.
