The two iconic “Padellone” from Patek Philippe and Rolex

Patek Philippe “Padellone” Ref 3848

The case is completely modern with a diameter of 375 mm, with sharp-angled lugs to complement the wide dial, a slender and steep bezel, and a thin case. The appearance of the 3448 watch gave the Italian the nickname Padellone (pan). From 1962 to 1981, a total of 500 pieces of this watch were produced, 100 of which were made of platinum. In addition, two of this watch are made of rose gold. After this watch was discontinued for a long time, two watches originally made of platinum were replaced with platinum cases made by Jean-Pierre Hagman. It is said that Philippe Stern approved this modification plan in 1996 in order to meet the requirements of a very important customer. The current owner of one of the two platinum 3448 watches is the legendary ean-Claude Biver in the watch industry. Sis sold a platinum watch at an auction in 2018 for 1,092,500 Swiss francs. Prior to this, a platinum 3448 watch was sold for 783,000 Swiss francs at the 2009 Goodsale auction. This price is considered very affordable, because the transaction price of a well-preserved platinum 3448 watch will fall at around 600,000 Swiss francs.

The 3448 watch can be further divided into four unique generations according to the dial. The first three generations used the Grand Feu enamel dial with short baton-shaped hour markers and sword-shaped hands. They all use gold inlaid beads on the minute scale ring. Please let me take a moment to explain how difficult it is to make this kind of face plate. First of all, these exquisite white dials must have a uniform color and be printed with a date ring and the Patek Philippe signature directly under the double windows. Then, these fine dials must be perforated to embed each gold bead inlaid with hour markers and minute rings. We can clearly see the perforation in the close-up photo of the second-generation white 3448 watch that was auctioned off by Best Western in 2016.

The difference between the first to third generations is the font of the date ring, especially the size of the date numbers. According to Goodsdale, the first generation of watches was produced from 1962 to 1966. The enamel dials of these watches are equipped with medium-sized date rings with printed numbers. In addition, the date ring is usually specially arranged so that the numbers 11 to 23 are reversed to improve legibility, otherwise you will see them upside down when reading. There is no sigma symbol on both sides of the SWss (Switzerland) trademark on the dial, because the Association pour la Promotionindustrielle deI’Or (APR|OR), the Swiss trade association that promotes gold watches, only later (in the 1970s) advocated “sigma noodles”. The purpose of the disc is to enhance the value of mechanical watches by emphasizing the use of pure gold parts.

The second-generation watches produced between 1965 and 1973 had apparently smaller and thinner date ring printed numbers. These numbers include inverted and uninverted-numbers 11 to “23” are not inverted, so they are upside down. Both sides of the word Swiss may have sigma symbols (usually the face plate after 1970) to indicate that the face plate uses gold scales.

The third-generation watches produced from 1971 to 1978 are similar to the second-generation watches, but the date ring numbers are obviously larger than those of the first and second generations. The date ring numbers include inverted and uninverted, and the “Swss·” on the dial has a sigma symbol.

The fourth generation of watches was produced around 1978 to 1981. They are the easiest to identify 3448 watches, because the dial is no longer a Grand Feu enamel dial, but a modern printed brass dial. The minute scale is no longer inlaid with gold beads, but printed with small stick-shaped signs. Due to the use of gold hour markers, these watches also have the sigma symbol. During the production of the 3448 watch, some interesting unique watches appeared. One of them was a very charming 1974 white gold watch number 3448, because it was later modified and equipped with the original fourth-generation fluorescent dial. With fluorescent pointer.

Among the four generations of 3448 watches, I personally think that the second generation is the most beautiful, because its date ring is more restrained and delicate, so it can perfectly match the minimalist shape of the 3448 watch. However, these four generations of watches can be said to be irrelevant, because each of these masterpieces is extremely exquisite. These four generations of watches use the 27460Q movement.

The Rolex “Padellone” 8171

To non-Italians, the nickname “Padellone” is very beautiful, but its original meaning is “pan”. You must not have thought that it is used to describe the most beautiful watch in the history of Rolex (the A)-Ref.8171. This model was born in the early 1950s, with a diameter of 38 mm, which was called a “big” watch at the time . The diameter of Ref.8171 is 2 mm larger than that of the Rolex Ref.6062 full calendar watch, and its case design is not streamlined.

       Rolex cleverly laid out to create a well-balanced, elegant and well-balanced watch. The case is stable, the lugs are round, the bezel is flat and simple, and the width is moderate, and the dial is beautiful and generous. The pointer type date display is adopted, and the scale circle is set on the outer edge, so that the day and month display window and the moon phase dial do not look so close to the center of the dial. Equipped with Calibre 10 1/2 self-winding movement , the small second is integrated in the moon phase display above the 6 o’clock position.

       The “Padellone” watch has a relatively short production period and includes gold, rose gold and stainless steel materials. In addition to the shorter production period, the overall production of Rolex full calendar watches is less, which also makes this watch very collectible. The case design of Ref.6062 may be more advantageous and more in line with the public’s perception of Rolex, but the size of Ref.8171 is also very unique. Ref.8171 is larger in size, which not only increases its rarity, but also improves its wearability in modern society. Of course, considering the value factor, the Rolex Ref.8171 “Padellone” watch will not be used for daily wear.