As if it wasn’t already difficult enough to get your hands on a Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5711/1A-010, the renowned Swiss watchmaker has just confirmed that after a fruitful decade, its coveted blue dial baby will officially be discontinued.
With a current domestic retail price of approximately AU$47,000 – and multiples of that on the secondary market well into the six-figure territory – the Nautilus Ref. 5711/1A-010 has a notoriously long waitlist, rumoured to have once span around ten years. Which is obviously a ridiculous amount of time, especially considering that time period equals the watch’s entire production run.
A key appeal involves the fact that only 30% of Patek Philippes produced each year are made from stainless steel. There are higher-end materials, sure, but as we all know, the simple concept of scarcity breeds commodity. And with a hard limitation now being imposed, you can certainly expect the latter of the aforementioned pricings to increase by an eyebrow-raising amount.
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“The rounded octagonal shape of its bezel, the ingenious porthole construction of its case, and its horizontally embossed dial… the Nautilus has epitomised the elegant sports watch since 1976,” reads the description of the iconic timepiece designed by Gerald Genta.
“In steel, rose gold, white gold, or two-tone combinations, they accompany the most active lifestyles with incomparable class.”
As noted by several publications from Hodinkee to Robb Report, the rose gold iteration (Ref. 5711/1R-001) will remain available for purchase. Additionally, we can expect a new release to replace the discontinued Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5711/1A-010 in the coming year; hopefully something that isn’t as tremendously dull and profoundly uninspired like the Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 6007A unveiled last year. But let’s be honest – we all came for the blue steel.
Good luck copping one now, fellas…
