If you’re planning to snag the uber exclusive Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe Nautilus timepiece, you gotta be at least one of these three: a big time celebrity slash fashion influencer; an ambassador of either Patek Philippe or Tiffany & Co; or have a minimum $52,000 or P2.6M to blow on a piece of arm candy.
What’s so special about this most hyped timepiece of the season?
There are only 170 pieces of the said limited edition series produced by the Swiss watchmaker. The number represents the 170-year old partnership between Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. Hence, not only does the watch contain both the Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. insignia, it is also marked with “170th Anniversary 1851-2021 Tiffany & Co. – Patek Philippe” on the sapphire-crystal caseback.
The Ref. 5711/1A-018 Nautilus wristwatch in steel features quite an attractive dial in the signature Tiffany Blue, a shade that’s sure to catch a lot of attention. Much like the one it caught on the wrist of Tiffany and Co. brand ambassador Jay-Z at the special screening of the film The Harder They Fall which the American rapper-turned-media mogul co-produced.
According to Sieg Suarez of Watch Manila, the “regular” blue faced one was discontinued early 2021, the SRP of which was around P1.5 to 1.7M. Before the discontinuation, the wait list was already 5 to 10 years—if they even allowed you on the list. Because of this waitlist, not to mention the scarcity and the hype, Suarez says the P1.5M watch was already selling at around P5M at the secondary market prior to news of its discontinuation.
After being discontinued, Patek released a “farewell version,” which has a green dial and even harder to get. Earlier this year, two examples were auctioned off. One was sold for around 400,000 euros or around 23M pesos. A second one was sold at $332k or 16.8M pesos.
The timepiece is the final version of the coveted Nautilus Ref. 5711 that Patek will be releasing. The brand has decided to discontinue producing the model in January so expect the value of this particular model to skyrocket. In fact, it already did in secondary markets. At a recent Philips auction, a model of the Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe Nautilus sold at a whopping $6.5 million or almost P326M.
The value of the watch is largely driven by hype and social media, says watch connoisseur Suarez who also keeps abreast in the happenings within the international timepiece market. “In my opinion, Patek and Tiffany could’ve celebrated their anniversary with a more complicated (complex) watch featuring mastery of craftsmanship and having a lot of features: Tourbillon, minute repeater, etc.” Suarez offers. That this Nautilus is made of stainless steel and not of the traditionally more special gold or platinum makes one question all the more people’s heightened interest in it. Although he commends the two companies for having built such hype around their timepiece.
Because of the discontinuation of the blue dial, and a similar fate awaiting the green one this year (the Tiffany is limited), all Nautilus models are expected to go higher in value. Already, the craze over stainless steel models is at the highest levels ever.
“The scarcity of the steel models especially of Patek and Rolex will make a good number of people go back to gold,” predicts Suarez. “Imagine, the gold watches from Patek and Rolex more readily available and could be purchased cheaper because the steel Rolexes and Pateks are not available at authorized dealers. So the secondary market prices the steel ones at 2 to 3 times their SRP.”
Meanwhile, those who have been pushed toward picking the gold options may eventually start seeing that gold is easier to get, says Suarez, “and at the same time realize that gold is a more precious metal.”
The timepiece is available exclusively at Tiffany boutiques that carry Patek Philippe, in New York, Beverly Hills and San Francisco.