The Watch That Patek Philippe Made Twice: A 1981 White Gold Grail Heads to Christie's New York

One of only two known examples of the Ref. 3448G "Red Dot", and Andy Warhol's Calatrava, lead Christie's Important Watches sale on June 12.

Two Watches, Two Stories

Christie's New York Important Watches sale on June 12 has two stories worth telling. The first belongs to one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century. The second belongs to one of the rarest watches Patek Philippe ever produced. Both are at Rockefeller Center next month.

Andy Warhol's Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 570 is estimated at $200,000 to $400,000 , a significant number for a watch that retailed for a fraction of that in Warhol's lifetime, and a reflection of what serious provenance does to an otherwise standard reference. Warhol was a compulsive collector, amassing over 300 timepieces across his career. After his death in 1987, all 313 watches found at his East 66th Street townhouse were offered at Sotheby's in a landmark auction , the first time a single-owner watch collection of that scale had come to market. The Calatrava at Christie's is one of those pieces returning to auction nearly four decades later, carrying the full weight of that history.

But the watch leading the catalogue is something else entirely.

The Watch at the Top of the Catalogue

The Patek Philippe Ref. 3448G "Red Dot" is one of only two examples known to exist in white gold with the red dot leap year indication. The second is the watch at Christie's. Estimate: $1,000,000 to $1,600,000.

To understand why that number is justified, it helps to understand what the Ref. 3448 actually is. Introduced in 1962, it was the first self-winding perpetual calendar wristwatch Patek Philippe ever made , the beginning of what would become one of the most important lineages in the history of watchmaking. Powered by the Caliber 27-460 Q with a full central gold rotor, the 3448 ran for nearly twenty years and was made in just 586 examples across its entire production run. Of those, at most 25 were cased in white gold. The reference was discontinued in 1981 to make way for its successor, the Ref. 3450.

What Makes This Example Different

What makes the Christie's lot extraordinary is what was added to it at the very end of that production run. The red dot leap year indicator, a tiny circular aperture positioned between 3 and 4 o'clock that displays a solid red enamel dot during leap years and Arabic numerals 1, 2, and 3 for the remaining three years of the cycle, was a late prototype addition to the final transitional examples of the 3448, essentially a proof of concept for the mechanism that would officially debut on the successor Ref. 3450. A very small number of late-production 3448s received this modification. Of those, only two are known to have been made in white gold, with consecutive movement numbers confirming they were built side by side.

The watch at Christie's is the second of those two. It comes with two cases, the standard case and a factory-installed integrated white gold chain bracelet, and is accompanied by full Patek Philippe archive documentation confirming its provenance.

A Different Era of Patek Design

The dial architecture of the 3448 reflects an entirely different era of Patek Philippe design compared to the neo-vintage references that followed. Where the later Ref. 3940 of 1985 presented three complex sub-dials in a precisely balanced arrangement, the 3448 carries the cleaner, more restrained sensibility of mid-century dress watchmaking, inline day and month windows, a moon phase at 6 o'clock, and that discrete red dot aperture that makes this particular example unique within its already rare universe.

Christie's has confirmed the example is one of only four Patek Philippe watches ever known to feature this specific red dot configuration across any reference. Within white gold, it is one of two. The auction house's estimate reflects the reality of that scarcity with a precision that the market will either confirm or exceed on June 12.

The Rest of the Catalogue

The sale also includes a diamond-encrusted Patek Philippe Nautilus Haute Joaillerie at $1,000,000, a rare Richard Mille RM022 Red Aerodyne Dual Time Zone at up to $1,000,000, a 2018 pink gold split-second monopusher chronograph at $500,000, and a 40th anniversary Nautilus with baguette diamond dial also at $500,000. A pair of Patek Philippe Tiffany Calatravas commissioned by President Lyndon B. Johnson , each engraved with the Golden Rule, and a 1939 Cartier Tank Normale gifted to Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick round out a catalogue that reads more like a museum exhibition than a standard auction.

But the 3448G Red Dot is the watch that defines the sale. Five hundred and eighty-six examples made across twenty years. At most twenty-five in white gold. Two with the red dot. One at Christie's on June 12.