One of the most popular watches among collectors: The Patek Philippe Nautilus. Why is it so high in demand? What is the story behind this two-eared watch? All that and more shall be discussed further in this article.
The Patek Philippe Nautilus was designed by none other than Gerald Genta, and it was launched back in 1976. Many would consider the Nautilus a competitor to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, but not necessarily so. Both the Nautilus and the Royal Oak were designed by Mr. Genta, so they’re more like siblings. Both watches were offered to both brands, Patek chose the Nautilus and rejected the Royal Oak, where Audemars chose the Royal Oak and rejected the Nautilus. Back then, the Nautilus was considered huge in size, and it was known as “Jumbo”. However, now it’s considered a baby next to new modern size watches. This beauty of a watch came in yellow, rose and white gold, platinum at some point and the most popular in steel.
Patek’s Nautilus is definitely made to be worn everyday, it is a sporty elegant watch. Each dial is different from one another because of how scientific Patek gets when it comes to painting dials. A Nautilus with a date complication will probably take about a year to be ready for sale in a boutique from scratch. I think it’s safe to assume that out of the 60,000 watches that Patek produces anually, 1,000 of them are Nautiluses. The demand on the Nautilus is so high Patek stopped putting people on a waiting list for it, which is said to reach 6 years of wait for some people.
The Patek Philippe Nautilus is definitely very much a Patek; it has the Patek Philippe Seal Of Accuracy And Quality, which makes it accurate to +3/-2 seconds daily, beating the Geneva Seal of +6/-4 seconds daily. It is water resistant to 100 meters, and features a sapphire crystal and a see through sapphire caseback, giving you the chance to admire Patek’s fine craftsmanship.
To end this article, I’d like to share a quote that a good friend of mine said: “The Nautilus is not what leads Patek Philippe, Patek Philippe is what leads the Nautilus”. And I couldn’t agree more; Patek has so many great watches other than the Nautilus. What is your favorite reference for the Naughty-lus?
