3939HP Patek Philippe Minute Repeater Tourbillon

Patek Philippe’s first serially produced Tourbillon also happened to be a Minute Repeater. That’s not even the most astonishing thing about the ref. 3939, though, as when it was introduced in 1992 it came to market at just 33mm. The manual calibre RTO-27-PS took up the entire caseback, with little room spare. The sheer degree of complication-per-millimeter in this reference has not been rivaled since; in fact, this movement is still in production only with more empty space around its perimeter to accommodate for contemporary case preferences. Just look at the subsequent 37mm 5016 or the ébauche in today’s 40mm 5316. This is the 240Q of Patek’s complicated manual repeaters since inception and it debuted here, in 1993, in its most petite and distilled form.

Photography for this Find comes with our thanks via prior sales by The Keystone, Phillips, and Bonhams.

Taking up every inch of this rather lovely 33mm case are 336 components, COSC-certified amusingly and also of the Geneva Seal (Philippe Stern) era. The dial is white enamel (black was also manufactured) with applied Breguet numerals (idyllic, right?). Each is said to have required about 250 hours of work, including final tuning by the boss himself.

Fewer than 200 examples are thought to have been made. Most agree that approximately 70 examples were manufactured in yellow gold, 65 examples in platinum, 35 in pink, and ‘a handful’ in white gold (5-10)—as well as a one off for Only Watch in steel. That doesn’t quite tell the full picture of variance, however, as occasional piece uniques have been known to surface like the only-too-often-forgotten mother of pearl dial 3939 that sold at Christie’s in 2012. Now there’s a dream watch you didn’t even know you needed.

The restraint and technical audacity in tandem are what still impress now, decades on. The early 1990s, across all of Switzerland, held an air of optimism for complicated mechanical watchmaking returning to dominance. Perhaps no single reference greater encapsulates this daring and positivity. Yet, as it was produced under Philippe Stern, there were no frills. Only purpose, perfectly executed. Watches are the 3939 are what make the early 90s the golden era for serially-produced complicated Patek Philippe.