1st Series 3941 Dorè (only piece know) owned by watches2.8

The lesser know twin of the 3940 is the 3941, produced between 1986 and 1990, not an identical twin however as the 3941 has a notable difference, a display case back. There has been little study on the 3941 with the common story often relaying that clients were requesting a way to view the impressive micro rotor ultra thin movement in their watch, of which Patek Philippe obliged - in doing so creating the 3941.

While display case backs are common place now, back in 1986 it was extremely rare with the 3941 being one of the first serially produced references to feature this. Over the years very few examples have come to market and until more recently there has been very little extra value attributed to this reference vs the 3940. On paper this is interesting as the reference appears to have been made in significantly lower numbers vs the 3940 and one of the smallest ‘serially’ produced references of the last few decades. More on the numbers later.

A glorious view into the 3941 micro rotor movement via the display back, A Collected Man

It was created due to the high number of requests that Patek Philippe was receiving from customers who wanted to admire the 240Q movement
— Collectibility

Production Numbers

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The number of ‘known’ 3941 examples has been publicly quoted by sellers and auction houses numerous times and usually varies around the 30-35 mark. From the research conducted for this article (up until 18th Feb 2025) we have found just over 45 examples; this number is publicity traded examples plus some very kind collectors who have shared their movement numbers. Does this make the 3941 one of the smallest serially produced references by the manufacturer in recent times? Possibly…

Firstly, a quick overview to how the movements are numbered for these references as this helps us identify the total production numbers.

As a start, it is important to note that the 3940 and 3941 shared the same movement, meaning the movement numbers are intertwined, whilst they also shared the same dials. The movement number for these references start at 770.001 with the first 25 examples numbered and signed BEYER on the dial. From 770.026 the 1st series dial is introduced and continues to roughly 770.650 before the 2nd series dial begins to appear, there is of course some overlap as the dial transitions. The earliest 2nd series dial I have seen is here (770.644) and latest first series dials are known to be in the 770.7XX range.

Now for production numbers….

Let’s look at total production numbers for the 3941. As mentioned we have found just 45 of the 3941. One of the last produced, that I have been able to find is movement number 772,575, making it the 2,575th 3940/1 made. This watch was produced in 1990, the final year of the 3941 production. These 45 watches that have surfaced equate to just 1.6% of that production to this point. This number is of course much lower than the total production figure of the 3941 as a large portion are likely to have never come to market, but it underlines the relative rarity of the reference.

Of course, the 3940 production continued far beyond the end of the 3941 in 1990, with production running until its discontinuation in 2007. To its discontinuation a total of roughly 7000 3940s were produced. This makes the 3941 even rarer, especially when compared to just the 45 that have surfaced (around 0.6% of production). Again this number is much lower than the likely true production, but the relative rarity is undeniable.

So what is the true number of 3941 produced, beyond what we can find? Well we can make some importance inferences from the 3970 (great article on those here by the way). Significantly, the 2nd series of the 3970 was produced in parallel with the 3941, between 1986-1990, and also offered an open case back version. This was also designated with a different reference: the ref 3971. “There are approximately 650 second-series ref. 3970 examples, with 150-200 of those being reference ref. 3971”, Collectibility. This makes the percentage of 3971 roughly 27% of total 3970/1 production; far higher than our known 3941 vs 3940 of 1.6% (from the same period - 1986-1990).

We believe a conservative estimate is to assume the true 3941 production as a % of 3940s during this period lies somewhere in between the 1.6% known and the 27% ratio of the 3971s production relative to the 3970.

As a result we tentatively assume a more realistic assumption for the true 3941 production number is around 15% of total 3940/1 production between 1986 and 1990.

If we use this 15% as a base we could assume roughly 386 units were produced across all series. This would bring the total production of 3941 to roughly 6% of all 3940/1 made up until 2007.

1st Series 3941

Digging a little deeper, the most collectible of the series is of course the 1st series (sunken sub dials, made by Stern and Singer - more on the 1st series dials here). I have found just 10, 3941 1st series examples. Having earlier identified roughly 650-700 examples of the 1st series were likely made, of those just 10 have been found to be 3941 which equates to just roughly 1.5%.

Again if we were to use 15% as a base then roughly 101 examples featured the 1st series dial.

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Please do remember these are numbers found from research and not official, it is what we can deduce from current market and sales information.

Dial Series

1st Series

The holy grail of 3940/1 collecting, we think so. Now add the rarity of the open case back making 1st series 3941 examples some of the most desirable (and rare) examples from the 3940/1 family. From the research for the article less than 25% of total 3941 examples found featured this dial series with the majority featuring the late 2nd series.

2nd Series (early and late)

2nd series is divided into early and late, early having no cross hair in the 3 o’clock sub dial, with late featuring the cross hair. The dials are identical bar this update. The 2nd series layout and architecture is rather different from the 1st series providing a very different appeal visually. Interestingly from the research I was only able to identify 7 examples of early 2nd series 3941, making it the rarest (in theory) series for 3941.

There are no 3rd series examples of the 3941 because the reference was discontinued in 1990, the 3rd series examples began in circa 1995. From circa 1990 the late 2nd series 3940 were offered with both case backs, therefore making the separate reference redundant.

Interesting Variants Found

Stern vs Singer Dials in 1st Sereis

Find a full deep dive of the differences in the 1st series dial deep dive here. To summarise a small number of dials were produced by Singer for the 1st series, easily identified by the ‘dot’ either side of Swiss at 6 o’clock, sloped sub dial cut out design and large Patek Philippe logo with no accent on the ‘E’ in Geneve.

Co-Signed Dials

I was only able to find a couple of examples, Beyer and Tiffany & Co signed respectively. Both signatures are found in the 6 o’clock sub dial below the moon phase. Interestingly both feature a late 2nd series dial (cross hair in 3 o’clock sub dial) however the ‘Beyer’ example has a movement number that places it at the end of 1st series dial, maybe even early 2nd series (no cross hair at 3 o'clock, go figure.

Dorè Dial

The collectors choice? The Dorè dial has really hit the spot in terms of collectibility within the 3940/1 collecting circles. Dorè examples are extremely rare as it is in 3940 production, let alone in 3941. I can count just one Dorè 3941 1st series and less than 5 total across all series.

X Dial

Very rarely seen across the 3940/1 family the dial was also pictured on the wrist of Stern Snr himself, I was very surprised to see this variant existed, sold by Bonhams in 2015. The collector who picked this up for 35k USD is sitting pretty thats for sure.

Roman Dial

There was also 1 Roman numeral dial identified in the research, you can find the listing here from Christie’s here from May 2006.

Case Metals

Interestingly the 3941 has been found in 3 case metals, yellow / white and rose gold. Is there a platinum example?.. Yellow makes up the majority, roughly 75% of examples found with rose being the rarest (just) however only appearing very late in the 3941 production fitted with the later 2nd series dials.

Both yellow (J) and white (G) gold examples have been found in 1st, early 2nd and late 2nd dial series.

Case Hallmarks

Unlike the 3940, where it is extremely rare to see case hallmarks on the back of the lugs in the 1st series (although not impossible), it is common place in the 3941. 1st series example below.

1st series example, hallmarks on back of lugs.

For both early and late 2nd series this trend continues with hallmarks on backside of lug.

Late 2nd series example, hallmarks on underside of both bottom two lugs, A Collected Man

Get in Touch

As always this is a working document and any feedback or insights to further the communities understanding of this reference would be greatly appreciated. please do feel free to reach out directly.

Reference Talk — The Elusive Patek Philippe 3941 Perpetual Calendar

It was created due to the high number of requests that Patek Philippe was receiving from customers who wanted to admire the 240Q movement

— Collectibility