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F ifty years ago, under the leadership of Henri Stern, Patek Philippe was looking for a product that would position the house at the forefront of contemporary tastes. Then, as now, Patek was respected as one of the finest Swiss watchmakers: its mastery of complications, particularly perpetual calendars and chronographs, was unmatched. But most of its designs were careful evolutions of models from the 1940s and 50s.
Four years earlier its smaller rival Audemars Piguet had made a splash with the Royal Oak, and Patek Philippe decided to approach Gerald Genta, who designed it. In what is now legendary watch lore, Genta sketched out the lines of what would become the Nautilus in a matter of minutes on a restaurant napkin.
With its recognizable ‘ears’ and that bezel, neither round nor angular, the Nautilus has at-a-glance status like—a Tank, Speedmaster or Day-Date, you won’t confuse it for anything else.
Over the five decades that followed, the Nautilus would become one of the most recognizable designs in watch history, a product of such totemic importance to Patek Philippe customers that when president Thierry Stern discontinued the most sought-after reference, the 5711 in stainless steel, at the height of its popularity in 2021 it sent a shockwave through the market.
The official reasoning was that a noble manufacture like Patek Philippe could not allow a steel sports watch to overpower the rest of the brand, but in collector circles it served only to intensify the model’s status as one of the most bankable in existence.
With multiple generations to its name, plus various intermediary references, a reasonable spread of case metals, complications and dial variations—plus of course the inevitable prototypes, rarities and cult favourites—the Nautilus’ history in the sale room is as varied as any.
Like many of today’s superstar references, it has not always been a candidate for catalogue covers or headline-grabbing results. In the 1990s, records show that the Nautilus hammered for between $5,000 and $10,000 depending on the reference. But in 2022, a special release (more on that later) was commanding six figures. The intervening years were turbulent with spikes and valleys that trended along with prevailing feelings about Genta, steel ‘sports-luxe’ models and the power of watches as hype-worthy, unobtainable social status symbols.
For the first 14 years following its release, only one reference existed in the catalogue, not counting variations in case metal. Initially designated reference 3700/1 it was later modified with the introduction of a slightly tapered steel bracelet (ref. 3700/11). Bi-metal and yellow gold versions joined the catalogue in the 1980s, and there are two known 3700s in platinum. One has diamond hour markers, the other a pave-set bezel as well. The former was last sold in 2013 for CHF 783,750; the latter in 2023 for CHF 1.62m.
It would be foolish to infer much about the market from sales of two pièces uniques, but it says something about the rise of the Nautilus that the former surpassed its high estimate by 96% and the latter missed it by 35%: in the space of a decade, the expected value of a one-off 3700 rose almost tenfold.
One of the rarest 3700s ever sold came through Sotheby’s Geneva in 2015: a prototype model with a white dial. Confirmed by the brand as a non-production piece, it is one of the standout Nautilus sales for Benoit Colson, Senior International Specialist in Sotheby’s Geneva. “It was a super watch. It had been owned by one of the engineers who built the Nautilus, and it came from the family. We had an estimate of CHF 30,000 - CHF 50,000 at the time, and it sold for over CHF 250,000 all-in.”
The 3700 was discontinued in 1990 to be replaced by the smaller 3800. With an in-house movement, centre seconds and a greater variety of dials and metals from the off, the 3800 family represents the second discrete generation of Nautilus. Marking the design’s 20th anniversary in 1996, Patek Philippe began to evolve the Nautilus’s appearance.
It was at this time that the Nautilus first appeared without its bracelet—on 1996’s reference 5060, a watch that has singularly failed to trouble the auction market despite its inherent rarity (it was only in production for a single year).
Other models from the late 1990s have been more favourably received; the ref. 3710, nicknamed ‘the comet’ by collectors for its power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock, launched in 1998 in stainless steel and for many years refused to increase significantly in value,stubbornly holding at around the $25,000 mark from 2006 to 2016, when it began to creep up. By 2018 it had doubled in price; it briefly became a six-figure watch during the pandemic, and today standard production models will hammer for between $50,000 and $75,000. A one-off, known as the ‘lucky thirteen’, sold in 2015 for CHF 254,600, comfortably the most expensive 3710 in history at more than five times its high estimate of CHF 50,000.
In 2004, in what is now viewed as a transitional step between generations, Patek Philippe brought out reference 3711 and in 2005, ref 3712, the latter adding moon-phase and power reserve indicators. This brought the case size back up to ‘Jumbo’ proportions, but was really an appetiser ahead of the 2006 release of the 5711. It is no exaggeration to call this the watch that transformed the reputation of the Nautilus at auction—but it did not happen overnight.
“There are two totally different markets with different clients, and the watches are both for different purposes as well,” says Colson. “People buying a 3700 are, generally speaking, more educated collectors searching for the roots of the model and trying to really appreciate Genta’s original design and what it represented in the watchmaking world at the time. Equally, there are younger customers for whom even 2006 is a long time ago.” The latter, he says, tend to focus on the 5711.
The 5711 also found an audience in the celebrity pantheon. It appears in the collections of everyone from Mark Wahlberg and Ellen DeGeneres to Kevin Hart and Ed Sheeran. It is the closest any Patek Philippe has ever come to being a commodity; a ‘double-sealed’, i.e. conspicuously unworn model will always carry a premium at auction.
The 5711 bubble started as long ago as 2013, when the reference first sold at auction for more than its retail price. In 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the Nautilus, the brand released two limited editions to limited interest—“for many collectors it didn't really fit with the image they had of the Nautilus”, says Colson diplomatically—but interest in the model intensified nonetheless. By 2022, prices for a standard stainless steel blue dial model regularly exceeded $170,000.
“Fifteen years ago,” Colson says, “pure watch collectors would already appreciate this watch. Even 20 years ago, people would discuss the Nautilus; prices were very different, but it already had that recognition. Some people liked it, some people did not, but you could take it on the tube, and even get a discount, perhaps. The wider recognition started around 2018, and then Covid served as an accelerator.”
The pandemic fuelled watch speculation as well as legitimate collector interest, and the model’s discontinuation in 2021 raised things to a fever pitch. As existing collectors were unable to travel or spend money on other passions, their interest in watches deepened, while a new generation of enthusiasts discovered watches online. Some were drawn in by the potential for financial returns; production slowdown at some mainstream brands, coupled with increased interest in independent brands with strictly limited volumes had led to rapidly rising prices.
Desirable ‘hero’ references like the Nautilus had been changing hands for well above their retail value for some years, but the pandemic saw the phenomenon peak, and expand to include more models than ever.
Matters intensified even further when Patek Philippe announced a one-year production ‘victory lap’ in the form of two olive green models (one gem-set, one not). Retailing for around $35,000 without diamonds, the green version sold for a colossal $490,000 in the summer of 2021; one sold at Sotheby’s the following year went even further, hammering for $531,963. Even four years after its release, in summer 2025, it was still a quarter-of-a-million dollar watch.
That would be enough fuel on the fire for most, but there was a final frenzy in store for the 5711’s auction life. A 170-piece limited edition in Tiffany blue, to be retailed only by the jeweler in its most prestigious locations (but, in reality, sold out almost immediately to Patek’s top clients). Just a week after its launch, one of the 170 was auctioned for charity— always a trigger for seriously high prices—fetching $6.5m in New York.
Even without philanthropic incentives, the Tiffany Nautilus soon made history as the first Nautilus to break seven figures. Sotheby’s last sold one in Hong Kong in 2023 for $2.6m. According to Colson, the market today may have cooled, but it would still be a seven-figure watch were it to appear in a sale.
Tiffany’s imprint, of course, has always served to enhance the value of any watch, particularly a Patek Philippe, and the Nautilus is no different. Double-signed versions of the 5712, 5980, 5726, 5990 and of course the regular 5711/1A have all sold for more than $200,000—roughly double or triple their market value without the signature—in the last five years.
If you’re in the market for a Nautilus to add to your collection, Colson says the safest references are the most traditional, in terms of design and proportions, highlighting the 5740, 3711 and 5712 alongside the 5711 as models to buy or hold onto. In particular, it could be a good time to move on the 5711 in stainless steel: “its market value has been stable for some months, for the first time in the last five years,” says Colson.
If you want something spicier, like the Tiffany dial or olive green variants, he says “we are still regularly receiving requests to source these pieces,” but notes that prices show little sign of returning to their heights. This could be your time to move on a grail: “some collectors see it as an opportunity to secure a highly exclusive Nautilus.” If your budget isn’t quite so expansive, he suggests looking a bit further back in the model’s lineage to find potential value.
Anyone looking to consign might consider now the time to part with a 3700. “The market is eager for well preserved Reference 3700 in steel or in gold, especially if the dial bears a double signature or if it has turned tropical,” says Colson. Special declinations of 3800, whether it is a rare case metal or an exclusive gem-set combination, attract strong attention and fierce competition at auction.
At the moment, Colson notes, the market is not overly leaning towards consignors or collectors. “There are opportunities both for sellers and buyers,” he says. “Some buyers would see the market stabilization as an opportunity to acquire the model they desire for a fair market price, especially compared to 2022. At the same time, owners presenting a special piece, whether it is thanks to the condition or rarity, will be rewarded as the market appetite, and so the price gap, between a regular and an exceptional piece has never been so wide.”
