14. April 2021

Patek Philippe Nautilus Novelties 2021

Overview

After Thierry Stern announced the discontinuation of Patek Philippe‘s flagship piece, the legendary 5711A, in February 2021 in an interview with NZZ, the rumor mill immediately began. Furthermore, Mr. Stern said in the same interview that «there will be a farewell-series of the Nautilus 5711» introduced later this year.

Last week, the time came for the Swiss luxury watch brand to reveal the Patek Philippe Nautilus Novelties 2021 and within which, it farewells the Nautilus 5711. In this review, we will talk about the two very limited 5711 models and the – in my eyes – steal of the release Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph 5990/1R. I purposely let pass a week before sharing my first impressions. However, my enthusiasm hasn‘t slowed down a bit!

Farewell 5711

Let’s start with the new Nautilus 5711/1A-014 which replaces the steel model with the blue dial. (Click here to read our article of the legendary Nautilus icon with blue dial.) In fact, the new release comes with a stunning olive-green dial, which is not very Patek-like. The Geneva-based luxury brand is known among collectors for its more conservative product design. On the other hand, the farewell model may well have been the perfect moment to introduce a more playful color for its special edition.

With this in mind and having a closer look at the sunburst dial, I need to mention the beautiful contrast of the dial to the white gold hands. Also, I like the different shades of the dial depending on how the (sun)light falls on the green. Although it’s officially declared by Patek as sunburst olive-green, it can appear almost black, a British racing green, or a very bright olive green. From a technical perspective, the farewell model remains the same as its predecessor with the blue dial. Inside the watch is the automatic caliber 26-330 S C which is visible through the transparent sapphire crystal case-back. The case diameter and height remain unchanged at 40mm (diameter): 8.3 mm (case thickness).

Even more stunning is reference 5711/1300A. The only difference to the farewell 5711A described above is the gemsetting on the bezel – something we haven‘t previously seen on a steel Nautilus. I assume this version is even rarer than the one without gems (see pictures at the end).

The 32 baguette-cut diamonds on the bezel are of the highest quality and are carefully selected by the gemsetting department of Patek Philippe. Without any doubt, the watch is very eye-catching, but at the same time, something you wouldn’t want to take off your wrist if you were lucky enough to get one.

There is no official limitation for both versions of the farewell Nautilus but it will certainly be a very low quantity as Mr. Stern confirmed that the production of the green dial Nautilus will only run for one year. There were previous special editions of the Nautilus, so this one is joining in the history books. Most likely, the watch will become the most sough-after Nautilus ever. (Click here or here to read more about other special Nautilus variants.)

Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph 5990/1R

As mentioned earlier, my personal highlight is the newly introduced Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph 5990/1R. The luxury timepiece is the perfect interpretation of sportiness and class. Inside the rose gold case is the in-house movement CH 28-520 C FUS. In fact, it is an automatic winding caliber that allows the watch to combine a flyback chronograph with a travel time and date function. Moreover, the sunburst blue dial features gold applied hour markers with luminescent coating matching perfectly to the case.

The steel version, ref. 5990/1A, caught my attention the moment I had on my wrist for the first time. But the same piece in rose gold is something I would call a Holy Grail Watch. The measurements are the same as its older steel sibling: 40.5 mm case diameter and 12.53 mm thickness.

All in all, there is no doubt that the Patek Philippe Nautilus Novelties 2021 are stunning as expected. The Geneva horology house allowed us to enjoy stunning new models and I can’t wait to finally get my hands on one of them. In addition, I have to say that Vacheron Constantin did a great job with some of its new releases. Of course, the White Gold Perpetual Calendar Skeleton draw the most attention, but I think there also other great novelties. (Blog post is coming soon.) And I am sure, if Vacheron continues its watchmaking journey like this, the Holy Trinity of haute horology (Rolex, Patek Philippe & Audemars Piguet) could be renamed the Holy Quaternity.

Summary

Brand:

Patek Philippe

Model:

Nautilus 5711/1A-014 ; Nautilus 5711/1300A ; Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph 5990/1R

Price:

Retail price is at CHF 29,500 / CHF 80,000 / CHF 90,000 but market prices will be higher by a large margin. The first model of the steel Nautilus with green dials (normal bezel) was offered at USD 200,000 on the grey market.

Limitation:

No official limitation but extremely rare due to low production timeframe

Measurements:

Diameter: 40 mm; height: 8.3 mm for both 5711 models / 40.5 mm case diameter and 12.53 mm in height for the 5990/1R

When to wear:

All three pieces are a great conversation starter at any watch event. You will be drawing so much attention wearing one of these bad boys. Nothing wrong with that, if you are among like-minded people, right?! You can never be underdressed as it perfectly suits business casual and gala nights.

Photography by the respective brand: Rolex from www.patek.com and IG: @patekphilippe

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