The Patek Golden Ellipse sits on a different plane, somewhere between a circle and a rectangle. Although simple in design, its adherence to the ‘Golden Ratio’ gives the Ellipse a pleasing harmony.
The Golden Ellipse was introduced in 1968 and signaled a departure from the conventional shapes in watchmaking. The Ellipse also dispensed with the traditional extended lugs found on other watches, only allowing the end of the strap to briefly interrupt the smooth lines of the case.
This 3848 dates back to the 1980s and is a smaller execution of the Ellipse. The 18k yellow gold case measures a classic 30,5 x 35 mm and with the inclusion E27 Quartz movement the watch retains an elegant thin profile.
The watch features a beautiful deep blue sunburst dial with elegant 18k yellow gold stick hands. While most Ellipse dials sport simple baton-style hour markers, this watch features a rare dial variation where the indices have been replaced by four flawless factory-set diamonds on the quarter positions.
A cool detail on the dial are the sigma (‘σ’) markings at the 6 o’clock position, an indication that was used by select Swiss watchmakers (namely Patek, Rolex, Vacheron, and IWC) in the 1970s and 1980s to indicate the use of 18k gold on the dial; in this case referring to the 18k gold chantons holding the diamond indices.
The watch comes on a luxurious black alligator leather strap with the iconic 18k yellow gold Ellipse buckle by Patek Philippe.