Photos: Patek Phillipe
Green with envy
None have made quite an impact that Patek Philippe had with its new Nautilus models at Watches and Wonders Geneva in April
Patek Philippe’s Nautilus collection has had many firsts since its launch in 1976. One of the early ones was the unusual use of stainless steel on a luxury watch. It had exceptional robustness and was water-resistant to 120m, an extreme challenge at that time for a regular watch.
With a case inspired by a ship’s porthole, the watch was an in- interplay of polished and satin-brushed finishing that highlighted the uniqueness of the form elements.
Fast forward to 2021 and Patek Philippe has announced it will cease the production of the stainless steel model Ref. 5711/1A. Instead, Patek Philippe is unveiling a new olive green sunburst dial in a version that features a bezel set with baguette diamonds.
The main attraction in olive green
Ref. 5711/1A-014 Nautilus
Judging by the numerous postings on social media, this timepiece has to be the darling of this year’s collection and fans are predicting this model will achieve cult status. Firstly, olive green is a daring choice as this colour has never been used in the Nautilus collection.
Pictures do not do the hue justice but up close, the watch features an elegant shade with a gentle sunburst finish. Telling time is easier as the luminescent hands and hour markers in white gold form is easy on the eye.
Beautifully crafted are the contours of the Nautilus which are underscored by the satin-brushed and polished finishing on the bezel, case and bracelet. For every watch, the manual work involved requires 55 individual finishing steps.
The case is water-resistant to 120m that protects the self-winding calibre 26-330 S C movement that has been powering the Ref. 5711 since 2019. This new movement is a spin-off of the calibre 324 S C and offers several innovations and technical optimisations, especially of the winding system.
It also features a stop-seconds mechanism that allows the watch to be set with one-second accuracy. A sapphire-crystal case back reveals the movement and finish.
Rose gold with a blue sunburst dial
Ref. 5990/1R-001 Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph
This new model comes in a rose-gold version that contrasts beautifully with the horizontally embossed blue sunburst dial as well as with the hour markers and hands in rose gold with luminous coatings.
This watch is water-resistant to 120m and is powered by the self-winding chronograph calibre CH 28-520 C FUS that melds the column-wheel control with the avant-garde disk clutch. The sweep chronograph hand is complemented with a 60-minute counter at six o’clock. The flyback function enables the instant start of a new short-time measurement while the chronograph is already running. This is done by pressing the pusher at four o’clock without first stopping the hand with the pusher at two o’clock.
The Travel Time system relies on two hour hands from the centre. The pierced hand indicates the hours of home time while the hours of local time are shown by the solid hand. When travelling or to display the time elsewhere, users can select a second time zone with their watch by using the “+” and “-” pushers in the case flank at nine o’clock to move the local-time hand forward or backwards in one-hour steps.
As long as the user remains at his place of residence and does not want to know the time in another time zone, the two hour hands can be superposed as if they were a single hand.
Stainless steel and baguette diamonds
Ref. 5711/1300A-001 Nautilus
In another daring design departure, Patek Philippe pairs steel with baguette-cut diamonds with a row of 32 flawless Top Wesselton baguette diamonds (approximately 3.6 ct) set to the highest standards of the master jeweller’s art.
Each baguette diamond has a special slightly trapezoidal shape instead of the classic rectangle and is cut to perfectly match the octagonal bezel with the rounded corners. The hour markers and the slightly rounded baton hands in white gold are coated with a luminous compound and assure excellent legibility at any time of day or night.
The case and integrated bracelet offers a snug and comfortable fit with manually polished alternating with satin-finished elements
Watch is water-resistant to 120m and is powered with the new self-winding calibre 26-330 S C that can be viewed through the sapphire-crystal case back.
