Over its twenty-plus years of production, reference 1463 has made an amazing evolution, partly due to a number of subtle changes to the case, but more importantly (as more evidently) due to its constantly changing dial design.

The last generation of dials, such as the present one, do no longer feature Arabic or Roman numerals at the 12 and 6 o'clock position, such as the previous two lots, but all hour markers are now exclusively straight baton numerals. Another noteworthy design element of these late production dials is the omission of the outer railway track, also known as chemin de fer, what collectors describe as the two or three concentric black circles connected by minute or even fifth of the seconds markings. The dial of the present watch features now only one black circle outside the incredibly contemporary facetted hour markers, lending the watch a look that has survived way into the 1990s.

This example is the only publicly known reference 1463 in steel featuring such a dial and, has been widely acknowledged to be one of the world's best examples of Patek Philippe's iconic water-proof chronograph. This opinion is also shared by John Goldberger, author of Patek Philippe Steel Watches, who dedicated the watch a prominent position inside his book.