When Quartz was king.

Let us start with the case, because how can you miss it? The case is a two-piece design made by Atelier Réunis. With its 43mm in size they were considered quite large in scale as they were the biggest wristwatches made by Patek Philippe in the 20th century. It was not until the beginning of the 21st century that we started seeing cases of this size and larger from Patek Philippe. Atelier Réunis was responsible for some of the most important cases for Patek Philippe during this period of time. What most people don't know is that Atelier Réunis was located in the same building where the Patek Philippe Museum, in Geneva, is now housed.

Up next is the stunning blue dial made by Stern Freres. The signature blued gold dial, which we have seen in the Ellipse, has a two-tone finish, the outer edge masked in a matte finish to highlight the green second markers. The 5-minute markers are luminescent and set in thick gold batons, the large hands are lumed as well. The date aperture is also framed in gold and under the 6 o'clock marker we find a 'SWISS' only signature. There were two other dial options available for the reference 3587, one being a gilt dial and another being the two-tone silvered dial. As you can see ours has a beautiful 'mesh' integrated bracelet hence the reference 3587/1 and the 3587/2 has the thick ‘holed’ bracelet. Interestingly, these bracelets were made by Pforzheim in Germany for Patek Philippe.

Now to the heart of the beast; the Beta 21. During the 1960's and 1970's the world entered the 'Quartz Revolution' or often referred to as the 'Quartz Crisis'. This period must be one of the most impactful and revolutionary periods of watchmaking history. This period changed the face of watchmaking forever. It was the result of hundreds of years of development in the search for timekeeping accuracy as well as hinting towards the end of manual watchmaking which, as we all now know, ended up not being true. In 1969 Patek Philippe entered a new era with the first watch, ref 3587, to bear the Beta 21 Quartz movement and as such entered a whole journey in to Quartz wristwatches. Fun fact is that the 3587, for its time, was quite expensive. It retailed for 3,500 USD when launched in 1969. Compared to and now hold on for this one, the reference 2499 retailed for a mere 2,200 USD. Yes, you read that right.

It is most definitely one of the more odd watches we have ever had the pleasure of having in our collection. Perhaps that is just the reason we love it so much.