Patek Philippe Nautilus 3800 'Green Beyer'

Our fourth "Beyer-signed" 3800, but without a doubt the most desired one.

Patek Philippe introduced the ref. 3800 as the midsize brother of the original ref. 3700 Nautilus, clocking in at a diameter of 37.5 mm. The 3800 wasn’t just a shrunken Nautilus, but introduced some important improvements vis-à-vis its big brother. For instance, the 3800 was the first Nautilus to feature an in-house automatic movement: the caliber 335 SC. Unlike the ‘Jumbo’ Nautilus, the 3800 also came with a central seconds hand (as indicated by the “SC”, which stands for seconde centrale). While this might seem like a minute detail, the sweeping seconds adds loads of dynamism to the original Nautilus’ rather static dial.

Enough about the movement and housing, even though usually most attention of Gerald Genta designs are aimed at the case and bracelet. Shift your attention to this dial: chock full of desirable details. Not only does it feature factory-set diamond indices instead of the traditional baton markers, but also sports a discrete “Beyer” signature at the 6 o’clock position; indicating that the watch was sold at the legendary Zürich-based retailer. But the true eye catcher here is the amazing color. Since the introduction of the 5711/1A-014, a Nautilus with factory fitted green dial is the contemporary collectors dream. This specimen from 4 decades earlier is ahead of the curve. The original dark blue paint -found on the iconic embossed dial- has slowly changed to an exceptional green tone. The surface of it is absolute spotless, and depending on how the light hits it the color changes. Meanwhile, two printed Greek sigmas (“σ swiss σ”) at the six o’clock position indicate that the indices and tritium-filled hands are made of 18K white gold. The date wheel on the early 3800's are dark and blend in nicely with the overall aesthetics of the watch, rather than the contrasting white discs on later models.

The watch is in exceptional condition with all components being original and well-preserved. IT underwent a full service at the Patek Philippe workshop and is additionally supplied with the extract of the archive, dating this timepiece to 1983 and the subsequent sale to the retailer on may the 30th that year. After correspondence with Beyer, they provided us with the sales price of CHF4850, as it found a new home on 8-6-1983.