It’s hard to retire him.
The Nautilus 5711 / 1A, the most beloved Patek Philippe of all, and expelled from production at the beginning of 2021 by President Thierry Stern, reappeared yesterday December 6 and cheekily in a limited edition with a blue-azure dial to celebrate the 170th anniversary. of the partnership between the Geneva Maison and Tiffany & Company.
Its name is Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5711 / 1A-018 Tiffany & Co.
The star who first emerged in 1976 from the magical pen of Gérald Genta immediately reacted badly to Stern’s decision to punish him for having stolen the show from all the brand’s collections in recent years.
Last July at an Antiquorum auction held in Munich, an example of the very latest series with an olive green dial just out of the factory was sold for 416,000 euros.
The folly of fashionable luxury sports fake watches, which we are now used to.
170 Years Spent Together
Both Patek Philippe (1839) and Tiffany & Co. (1837) were founded two years apart from each other, it is therefore easy to understand how the two giants of glitz immediately fell in love with each other. .
The first official agreement regarding the retail sale of Patek Philippe timepieces on the US market dates back to 1851. In 1876, a second agreement came that appointed Tiffany & Co. as general representative for the United States and invested with such power that it could manage the local interests of the Geneva manufacturing company in its place.
In the period from 1900 to 1930, Tiffany & Co. played a key role in the relationship between Patek Philippe and the great American watch collectors, such as Henry Graves Junior for whom the manufacture made a wide range of super complicated fake watches.
In 2008, Patek Philippe further intensified the relationship with the American jeweler by opening a boutique inside the famous Tiffany store in New York located on Fifth Avenue which is currently undergoing renovations. Here you can always admire the entire collection of the manufacture.
Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref.5711 / 1A-018 Tiffany & Co
Therefore, to commemorate a partnership that has lasted 170 years, Patek Philippe has created a limited edition of as many Ref. 5711 / 1A-018 Nautilus in steel with the famous Tiffany Blue® dial.
On the outside, these Nautilus are immediately recognizable by the dial with the usual horizontal cantilevered motifs, unusually blue, the typical color of the New York jeweler.
Observing it more closely you can see the typical writing “Patek Philippe Geneve” at 12 – while at six Tiffany & Co.
Everything else is the same as the production models.
The Nautilus Tiffany 5711 / 1A is declined in the latest version which dates back to 2006 and which will be withdrawn from the market in 2022, let’s say officially because practically since the beginning of 2021 this model is more unobtainable than usual.
The sapphire caseback bears the commemorative inscription “170th Anniversary 1851-2021 Tiffany & Co. – Patek Philippe”. Looking more closely at the year 2021, the four letters LVMH in white on black block letters inside the number “1”, in memory of the watchmaking group of the same name which in early January 2021 completed the acquisition of Tiffany for the sum of 15 , 8 billion dollars.
As for the watchmaking and jewelry sector, LVMH, one of the world’s leading luxury groups, owns 7 brands / Maisons including Tiffany. The multinational would undoubtedly have the possibility of replacing Patek within Tiffany with its internal resources but I believe that this will not happen: from a commercial point of view it would not be a happy move.
And with this Nautilus 5711 / 1A Tiffany & Co. I really think that the most desired Patek in the world has really played its last card. But let’s wait for it to continue to sparkle in upcoming auctions.
The first will be held in a few days at Phillips in New York in association with Bacs & Russo. On 11 December, Tiffany & Co. will auction one of these pieces by donating 100% of the proceeds to The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organization.
I am sure that on that occasion it will become the most expensive steel Nautilus in the world. There are only a few days left to see how it will turn out.
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