The wait is over. White smoke has issued from the chimney. At last, there is a successor to Patek Philippe’s fabled Ref 5711 Nautilus, the watch that more than any other has come to symbolise the craze for luxury steel sports bracelet watches.
In the watch world, the Nautilus enjoys a fame akin to that of the Birkin bag. Designed for Patek Philippe by Gérald Genta almost 50 years ago, in 1976, the Nautilus was a new Patek for a new customer. Until then the Swiss watchmaker had been known primarily as a maker of gold dress watches and complications. The Nautilus reached out to the younger generation. “The Nautilus was a link between a party guy, a gentleman and a sporty guy, a mix of all of that,” explains Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe, talking to me on the phone from Geneva.
Prima facie, the most noticeable thing about the new Ref 5811 is that it is barely distinguishable from the watch it replaces. Even side by side with its predecessor, anyone who isn’t a Patek obsessive will have difficulty playing this horological game of spot the difference.