In 1968, Patek Philippe did something unusual: they introduced a watch case that was neither round nor rectangular, but shaped according to Euclid's Golden Section — the ratio 1:1.618 that Renaissance mathematician Luca Pacioli called De Divina Proportione. The result was the Golden Ellipse, ref. 3548, with a 27×32mm case in 18k yellow gold, a cobalt blue dial achieved through a vacuum-plating process Patek patented specifically for this watch, and a woven mesh bracelet. It was immediately, undeniably different from anything else in the Patek catalogue — or anyone else's.

The Golden Ellipse became the watch of its era. In the 1970s, it was one of the most recognizable luxury timepieces in the world — the kind of watch worn by people who didn't need to explain their taste. Italian presidents, European collectors, and an international clientele who understood that the blue gold dial was not an accident but a patent — an invention — placed it among the great design objects of the 20th century. The introduction of the ultra-thin Cal. 240 micro-rotor movement in 1977 with the ref. 3738 was the defining technical moment: a movement just 2.53mm thick, engineered specifically to allow a case profile that remains one of the slimmest ever produced for an automatic wristwatch. The ref. 3738, in production from 1978 to 2009, became the canonical Golden Ellipse — produced in more than four distinct series with dozens of dial and bracelet configurations, and the reference against which all others are measured.

The current ref. 5738, introduced in 2008 for the collection's 40th anniversary, is larger at 34.5×39.5mm — a size that polarized collectors who loved the intimacy of the 3738. But 2018's rose gold 50th anniversary edition restarted the conversation, and Watches & Wonders 2024 changed it entirely with the 5738/1R-001: the first Golden Ellipse on a bracelet since the original 1968 ref. 3548 — a fully polished rose gold chain bracelet with 363 individually mounted elements, fifteen years in development. The response was decisive. The Golden Ellipse, long dismissed by a generation focused on sports watches, reclaimed its place at the center of serious collecting.

The case for the Golden Ellipse as a collector's watch has never been stronger. Vintage ref. 3738 examples in yellow gold with original blue dials — particularly early first and second series examples with unpolished cases — remain remarkably accessible compared to the Nautilus and Calatrava, despite representing some of the finest watchmaking Patek has ever produced. The Rare Handcrafts 5738/51G with its Grand Feu champlevé black enamel dial is an independent artistic achievement, not simply a watch dial. And any collector who bought a 5738/1R bracelet model in 2024 has already seen the secondary market confirm the decision. This is a collection in its renaissance — and the best time to own a great watch is before everyone agrees that it is great.