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PATEK PHILIPPE Calatrava, Reference 3466, Stainless Steel, Automatic Caliber 27-460, PP Crown, Year 1970, Very Rare, Excellent Condition

Most vintage Calatravas people come across are manual wind, which is exactly what makes the 3466 stand apart. Patek Philippe built this reference only in steel, only for a short run between 1962 and roughly 1970, and fitted it with one of the earliest automatic movements the manufacture ever produced.

The case is stainless steel at 35mm, with a screw down back, a size that modern collectors have come back around to appreciating after decades of ever larger watches. Steel Calatravas from this era were never made in large numbers to begin with, and total production of the 3466 is generally put at somewhere between five hundred and eight hundred pieces, with far fewer than that surfacing on the market since.

Inside sits the caliber 27-460, Patek Philippe's second ever automatic movement and a direct evolution of the caliber first used in the reference 2526, the watch that introduced automatic winding to the Calatrava line in the first place. It carries the Geneva Seal, the quality mark Patek applies to only a small share of its production, and represents an important step in the brand's early automatic watchmaking.

This example is in excellent condition and bears the rare and much loved PP crown from theearly years of automatic movement watches.

"A genuinely rare piece of Patek Philippe's automatic history, understated on the wrist and significant to anyone who knows what the reference actually represents - a true connaiseurs collectors piece!