A pen and a piece of paper from a waiter whizzing by and 5 minutes between schnitzel and dessert – that’s all it took to create the iconic design of the Replica Patek Philippe Nautilus in a steel case. At least that’s what the creator, Gérald Genta, says. That was in 1976, during Baselworld, when the designer legend spotted some Patek Philippe employees in the hotel restaurant and showed them an initial sketch. That was the beginning of an incredible success story – in particular, the blue Patek Philippe Nautilus with the reference 5711/1A-010 is one of the most sought-after steel sports models ever. The waiting lists are filled for up to 10 years – with a (list) price of around €29,000, mind you.
Oh, sorry: the waiting lists were full to the brim. Because at the beginning of 2021, Patek Philippe buried the Nautilus 5711/1A-010 with a blue leaf and the Nautilus 5711/1A-11 with a white leaf. Actually, that’s not a real surprise: Patek boss Thierry Stern made it clear in an interview in 2019 that there was no longer any room in the range for a “low budget” Nautilus in an ordinary steel case…
Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 Steel: A Brief History Lesson
The drawing, which was quickly scribbled in Gérald Genta’s restaurant, was so well received that it caused Patek Philippe to swim completely against the tide: the Nautilus was unusually positioned at the time as a luxury watch in a steel case. The original Patek advertisement below confidently states: “One of the world’s costliest watches is made of steel”. A luxury watch that doesn’t come in a gold case? That was almost a scandal.
The message was clear: even a sports steel watch can be expensive! However, success was initially limited: the better-off watch enthusiasts at the time couldn’t really imagine shelling out over $3,000 (around $8,000 today adjusted for inflation) for a watch made of steel – after all, that was almost as much as that Patek Philippe called for dress watches in gold cases. And another comparison: At the same time, the steel Daytona from Rolex cost just around 1000 US dollars, about a third of the price of the Nautilus.
Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 steel: price development and investment
The Patek Philippe Nautilus is one of the most popular steel sports watches in the luxury segment today (along with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and various Rolex models). Since around 2016, the prices for the Nautilus reference 5711/1A-010 with a blue bar dial in particular have increased extremely: The prices for a used steel Nautilus on online portals like chrono24 are now beyond good and bad and clearly above the (already crisp) list price.
The price development is not at all surprising given the waiting time, which has been up to 10 years due to targeted, very limited production. Patek Philippe does not reveal how many steel models leave the factory, but according to internal guidelines it should not be more than 30% of annual output.
Thierry Stern said this quite openly in an interview in mid-2019: “[…] I took the decision many years ago to say ‘Let’s limit it.’ I am limiting the steel versions, mostly the Nautilus. That’s really the one that everyone is looking for. Why is it so expensive? It’s simply because there are just a few of them.”
Adios, Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 in steel
Well, at the beginning of 2021, Patek Philippe is removing the Nautilus 5711 with a blue dial and the (slightly less popular) Nautilus with a white dial from the range. Only a watch manufacturer like Patek Philippe can afford this, at first glance completely absurd, step: the traditional company, which is still privately owned by the Stern family and whose annual sales are estimated at around 1.5 billion Swiss francs Apparently enough of the complaints from the official concessionaires who have had to put off their customers for years. Because apparently even the best Konzi horses in the stable only receive 1-2 Steel Nautilus 5711 per year – if at all.
Thierry Stern said in 2019: “At our level, steel has always been very rare. Today, I have to be very tough on the quantity. Because I don’t want to see steel taking over the lead in the whole collection in terms of material. So we have to be vigilant.”
Stern’s statement clearly shows that Patek Philippe does not seem to place much value on having “cheap” models made of steel in its range. Sarcasm mode /on: Where would you go if you were priced in the cheap Rolex or Omega range? Patek customers should buy the much more expensive models in platinum or white gold cases if they want something visually more discreet. The common people should please choose other brands. Sarcasm mode /off. 😉
A nice side effect of Stern’s approach: the return that one or two clever speculators were able to reap when walking out of the concessionaire with a Nautilus in their pocket will most likely be pocketed by Patek Philippe itself in the future – in the form of a higher unit margin on precious metal variants the nautilus.
After the discontinuation of the steel Nautilus, the (already absurdly high) prices are likely to explode increasingly. Not to mention the high prices for well-preserved vintage models: a Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 3700/001 from the 70s, for example, changed hands at the end of 2020 for a whopping 180,000 euros. One can only congratulate everyone who was able to get hold of a steel Nautilus at the list price (regardless of when).