2,000 platinum Nautilus. Is that limited?
By Priya Nair, Singapore · · Patek Philippe
Let's be honest about what happens next. Somewhere in Singapore a client is already on the phone to a boutique manager, explaining how long they have been loyal.
The Nautilus is fifty. Gérald Genta's porthole design arrived in 1976 as the 3700, and Patek has marked the birthday with two limited references: the 5610/1P in platinum at 38 mm, and the 5810/1G in white gold at 41 mm. Each is limited to 2,000 pieces. Both are 6.9 mm thick, which is the number that made me sit up. Both have blue sunburst dials with horizontal embossing, no date window, and the ultra-thin calibre 240 with a commemorative gold micro-rotor behind a sapphire back.
The 38 mm platinum is the one I would want. It is the size the Nautilus always should have been on a normal wrist, and at under 7 mm it will slide under a silk cuff the way a steel 5711 never quite did. Patek sets a small diamond in the platinum case, its usual quiet signal that you paid for the heavier metal. Platinum and white gold look almost identical across a dinner table, which, depending on your personality, is either the point or the problem.
Price: a little over $112,000 in the US for the platinum. The white gold is cheaper but still serious money.
About that word, limited
Two thousand of each is four thousand watches. That is not rare. It is a production run with a ribbon on it. I do not think these will behave like the 5711 did in its mad years, and anyone buying one as an investment should cool down and look at what the 5711/1A does on the secondary market now compared with 2022.
I also find 30 m of water resistance a little tired on a watch that was sold for fifty years as the elegant sports watch. Not that anyone wearing platinum Nautilus is going snorkelling. But still.
If you have the relationship, the 5610/1P is the most wearable Nautilus Patek has made in years and I would happily take one. If you do not, the 5811/1G exists, and so does patience.
Priya Nair is a pen name of The Watch Quest editorial team. Opinions are based on the published specs, the brand's own information and the watch's reputation, not a long-term test.