Patek Philippe

rhodium plated lever movement stamped with the seal of Geneva(cal. 70-155), 24 jewels, gyromax balance, adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 8 positions, black dial enhanced by 1 baguette and 10 circular-cut diamond hour markers, apertures for day and month in French, subsidiary sunk dials for constant seconds combined with 24-hour indication and 30-minute register combined with leap year indication, aperture for moon-phases combined with date ring, outer ring divided into fifths, white gold baton hands, polished circular case with down-turned stepped lugs and round chronograph push buttons, scooped bezel, screw-down sapphire crystal back display back, case, dial and movement signed, with a platinum Patek Philippe folding clasp, accompanied by Patek Philippe mahogany presentation case, white gold setting pin and interchangeable solid platinum case back

Reference 3970 was made in four series between 1986 and 2004. The first examples featured a snap-on case back and can be seen as the logical successor to the reference 2499. Within two years of the model's launch, the case back was revised to a screw-down water-resistant type back. The present lot belongs to the fourth series which was made between 1994 and 2004. This model was supplied with both the solid and sapphire crystal screw-down case backs and folding clasp which previously had been an optional extra.