Chapter 3/6
Rarely had an anniversary been expected with so much anticipation. In 2016, consensus was Patek Philippe would be releasing a celebratory series for the fortieth year of the Nautilus' existence. And for everyone not paying close attention, it ended up an underwhelming event. During the not-yet-defunct Baselworld exhibition, Patek Philippe came up short of everyone's expectations.
Aquanauts, Calatravas, a lot of chronographs – but not a single Nautilus! It was only several months later, in October to be precise, that Patek finally pulled the trigger. Except there wasn't as big a bang as one had hoped. They kept it rather discreet, by releasing a mere pair of anniversary timepieces. The thing is, these two pieces were bellwethers of many changes ahead, both within Patek Philippe and the Nautilus line.
First of all, the watches. The first one was ref. 5711 P, where P stands for platinum. Yes, it was a full platinum 5711, with a gradient blue dial. Like all platinum Patek Philippe timepieces, it featured a discreet round brilliant diamond set between the lower lugs. Sure enough, this was a heavy watch, as all bracelet sports timepieces made of platinum are bound to be. It weighted a hefty 240 grams, when the 5711A stands at around 150.
Bear in mind this was the year 2016. Platinum hadn't reached cult-level status among the watchmaking icons. As a whole, that metal was mostly aimed at those customers who loved its weight and rarity, less so to those discerning enough to distinguish it from white gold. In and of itself, this was no revolution, because Patek Philippe had dressed the Nautilus in this heavy, gray clad on numerous occasions. But this 5711P had an ace up its sleeve, which was the common thread of the 40th anniversary Nautilus series. It had hour indices in the shape of 12 baguette-cut white diamonds, with 2 at 12 o'clock and none at 3, where the date window sits. And that (emphasis on that) was new.
The other piece was ref. 5976 G, where 5976 stands for the self-winding flyback chronograph Nautilus, and G for the French word gris, the color gray of the gold alloy Patek Philippe had given it. In English it is however referred to as white gold. Inside, caliber CH 28-520 C provided its distinctive layout, with a concentric seconds and minutes chronograph counter located under the hands. This matters because the space above said hands was conspicuously occupied by the signature Patek Philippe had designed for both anniversary references. It was a large three-dimensional marking etched on the dial, saying 1976 & 40 & 2016. It was also present on the 5711P, yet under the hands. That marking was unusual, as it was the first time Patek claimed that blatantly the occasion at which it made a timepiece. And it was wide. And it was very visible. And it was not for everyone. Except that turned out to be a great idea.
The fact remains, releasing only two timepieces for the fortieth anniversary of such an important watch was a strange move. Patek Philippe was in fact trying to kill three birds with these two stones. One was to introduce a new feature, which had so far been reserved to bespoke or extremely rare pieces. The diamond index aspect was a way to dip its toe in the men's diamond watch business. Patek, being very conservative in its design, hadn't explored it on a large and public scale. But some markets were begging for it, in south-east Asia, the USA and the budding middle-east. A few years later, it became a massive focus of Patek Philippe, who ended up buying into a large gem-setter, Salanitro, to feed the gem-hungry beast and cash in on it.
The second bird was to position the Nautilus on a higher plane. Interest for the collection wasn't into its 2020s mad-as-a-hatter phase, but its was still heavily focused on the steel references because they were the historic ones, the coolest ones and also, the cheapest ones. The Nautilus was still the access Patek, and that was beginning to irritate the Geneva HQ. So, they spiked the drink with expensive, exclusive features, namely platinum and diamonds.
Third of all, the marking on the dial was aimed at making these two pieces special and highly collectible. One of the reasons Patek is so successful as a brand is because their timepieces retain value on the secondary market, sometimes exceeding the brand's own retail price. This ended up being an issue Patek had to address, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
The 1976 / 40 / 2016 carvings were not to everyone's taste, but they made these two series extremely desirable and recognizable to anyone who knew what to look for. They weren't just another iteration of their respective reference. They were these hard-to-come-by, very expensive Nautilus. Both launched in six-figure territory, and they're still priced with massive markups.
Any brand or collection anniversary is an exercise in marketing skills. The idea is to make a point, create desirability and hike up exclusivity. With just two watches, Patek left everybody begging for more. On the quantities side though, Patek didn't hold back – 700 pieces for the 5711P, 1'300 pieces for the 5970G. That was a lot of watches, especially for a collection that Patek wasn't manufacturing on a large scale.
Is that 40th anniversary strategy a blueprint for what Patek wants to do for the upcoming 50th? Will it be completely different? Will there be steel again ? Will there be more diamonds? More platinum? More surprises ? Expectations are high, this time more than ever.
