Patek Philippe

I’d welcome the forum’s eyes on a Golden Ellipse ref. 3738/100 in 18k white gold, and specifically on its dial. I’ve laid out what I can document and where I’m stuck.

What’s established:

• Certificate of Origin present. It describes the dial as “brun, heures relief or” — brown, with applied gold hour markers.

• Caliber 240, movement no. 1’200’xxx . The certificate form is printed 1/96, and its date code “PSSR” decodes to 09/96

• The case carries the Swiss St. Bernard assay mark, in use only from 1995 onward, so the case itself is 1995+ — fully consistent with the 1996 paperwork.

• Sold through an authorized dealer in Taipei, Taiwan.

What puzzles me is the dial. It’s a brown sunburst with applied gold baton markers, a dotted σ.SWISS.σ below 6 (Singer?), an accent on “Genève”, serif lettering, and flat pointed hands — i.e. what 41watch classifies as the first-generation (MK1) dial, the kind you’d expect on a late-1970s/early-1980s Ellipse, not a 1996 watch (which should normally carry a later, sigma-less dial).

The gap I can’t close: I cannot find any brown 3738 dial dated before ~2006. Every documented brown I’ve seen is 4th series (2006+), mostly rose gold. That would make this a very early brown.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen a brown, MK1-style sunburst dial on a mid-1990s 3738?

2. Is a 1996 white-gold brown Ellipse a known special order, or a market-specific (Asian/Taiwan) configuration?

3. Is MK1 typography on a 1996 watch better explained by older dial stock used at assembly, or by brown/special dials simply not following the blue-dial MK1–4 typographic timeline?

4. Any pre-2000 brown 3738 you could point me to for comparison?

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