FLOAT

Patek Philippe Ref. 3970

Maker
Patek Philippe
Year
1986-2004
Rank
33 of 100

Patek Philippe Ref. 3970

Patek Philippe Ref. 3970 by Patek Philippe (1986-2004) is ranked 33 in the FLOAT 100 for Watches. It sold for $416,000 in November 2024. Successor to the 2499 and predecessor to the 5970 — the reference that carried the perpetual-calendar-chronograph lineage through the modern era.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

Successor to the 2499 and predecessor to the 5970 — the reference that carried the perpetual-calendar-chronograph lineage through the modern era.

Ref. 3970 (perpetual calendar chronograph)

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$416,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
November 2024

First-series 3970J (1986) sold ~$416,000 at Phillips Hong Kong, Nov 2024. Other dated sales: 3970E $148K (Apr 2025), 3970EP $228K (Nov 2025), platinum CHF 469,900 (May 2025).

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
Archive
2026-08-08