Not enough Nautilus 5811 for everybody: Patek Philippe’s Thierry Stern

THE discontinued Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 finally has a successor – the Ref 5811/1G-001. But don’t call the boutique yet to place your order though.

“There won’t be enough for everybody,” revealed Patek Philippe’s president, Thierry Stern, in an exclusive interview with The Business Times in Manila last month.

He added that the new 5811 will be “rare” but “not limited”.

“Not everybody will get it in the first year... (but) this one will stay in the collection also for (a) certain (amount of time before) it stops like all the other ones.”

Designed by the legendary Gerald Genta and introduced in 1976, the Nautilus has gone on to become a phenomenon in the watch world.

The 5711, in particular, has become impossible to purchase in a Patek boutique. The wait list for one stretched as long as 10 years.

All this was even before Patek announced that it was discontinuing the reference in 2021. That only fuelled demand further, turning the 5711 into a grail and making it possibly the world’s most sought-after modern-day sports watch.

A check on luxury watch resale listings website Chrono24 showed prices on the secondary market for the iconic steel diver now trading upwards of S$160,000, depending on the condition of the piece and the dial colour.

Coveted ones like the Ref 5711/1A-014 in olive green dial start from S$500,000, even though its recommended retail price is S$46,000.

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Although Patek does not reveal the actual number of Nautilus timepieces it produces, industry estimates peg it at about 20 per cent of its annual output of around 65,000 watches.

Who gets to buy a Nautilus is a separate matter as Stern said Patek is not keen in just selling it to someone looking to show off and will never buy another timepiece from the brand ever again.

“This watch should be sold to someone who knows (and understands) Patek Philippe already,” he explained.

Stern is also mindful that Patek should not only be known for the Nautilus – which is precisely why there was no news nor sight of the follow-up to the 5711 at the Watches and Wonders watch fair in Geneva earlier this year when the press and dealers were expecting it.

“I think the retailers were actually quite happy because they are always facing clients asking for the Nautilus, and we gave them the chance to sell something different,” he said, referring to the Calatrava novelties that were unveiled instead.

One of the biggest differences between the 5811 and 5711 is that the former is now crafted from white gold instead of steel like its predecessor.

The choice of using a precious metal is a conscious one as Stern said Patek has a rich history crafting luxury watches out of gold. That, plus he felt that the brand has just the right percentage of steel watches in its current line-up and did not want to upset the balance.

“The important part for me (in developing the 5811) was to have an evolution – you cannot just change the (dial) colour and that’s it,” he added, “I’m not going to change everything; I’m just going to improve things.”

For now, Stern is more than pleased with how the 5811 has turned out – so much so he felt it could displace the Ref 5740 Perpetual Calendar as his favourite Nautilus: “For me, this is the nicest one in terms of (dial) colour.”

Read our full interview with Thierry Stern in our annual watch supplement, The Business of Time, which comes free with every copy of The Business Times next Friday (Oct 28).