Vanity Fair UK - 10.2019

THE WAIT

In the last few years, the craze for stainless steel

sports watches has resulted in years-long waiting

lists for both the Royal Oak and the Nautilus—if

you can even get your name on a list in the first

place. In March, The New York Times reported

that the wait for a stainless steel 5711 could be up

to EIGHT YEARS. The wait for the Royal Oak is

almost as severe —up to FIVE YEARS for the

much-coveted Jumbo model.

HIGHEST COMPLICATION

The most complicated Patek Philippe

Nautilus ever made is the 2018 Reference

5740 (below, left), the first Nautilus with a

perpetual calendar grand complication.

The most complex Royal Oak—featuring

minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph,

perpetual calendar, week indication, hours

and minutes—was introduced in 1997: THE

ROYAL OAK GRANDE COMPLICATION

(below, right).

DESIGNER

Both watches were designed by the

Genevan industrial designer and artist,

Gérald Genta (above). According to Genta,

both designs were inspired by the nautical

world—the Royal Oak by a

SCAPHANDER DIVING HELMET, and

the Nautilus by the HINGED

PORTHOLES on luxury cruise ships.

Nautilus

PATEK PHILIPPE

UNDER THE HAMMER

With just a few thousand examples in existence,

the original Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference

3700 and Audemars Piguet’s original A and B

Royal Oaks go for

increasingly princely sums

at auction. At a Sotheby’s

auction in Geneva last year, an

A-Series Royal Oak sold for

CHF 56,250 (£43,183). The Tiffany &

Co. name on the dial can make an

enormous price difference for both the

Nautilus and the Royal Oak. At Sotheby’s Hong

Kong in April 2019, a Nautilus with a Tiffany dial

went for an impressive HKD 2,500,000

(£244,366), setting a new world auction record

for the 3700 reference in stainless steel.

COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S

(NAUTILUS REF

. 3700; A

SERIES ROYAL OAK)

£43, 183

£244,366

AUTUMN 2019 VANITY FAIR ON TIME 53