Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Nautilus sold for $6.5 million!
Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Nautilus to limitowana seria 170 zegarków wypuszczona z okazji 170-letniej współpracy z Tiffany & Co.
Yesterday, the media reported that the Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Nautilus was sold for $6.5 million, which is 120 times its factory price. All proceeds from the sale went to The Nature Conservacy Foundation. This is the first piece in a limited series of 170 watches that Patek Philippe will produce in collaboration with Tiffany & Co. boutiques.
Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Nautilus
The Patek Philippe Tiffany Blue Nautilus will only be produced in 170 pieces. This number is not accidental – in this way Patek Philippe celebrates 170 years of its cooperation with Tiffany & Co. It is the longest business partnership in the history of the brand, so it deserves a special commemoration. The watches will be sold only in Tiffany boutiques.
What distinguishes this Nautilus model from others is the colour of the dial referring to the Tiffany Blue colour, as well as the double branding – Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. As for the parameters, we are basically dealing with a typical representative of the 5711 model – the watch is made of steel and is 40 mm in diameter and 8.3 mm thick. Inside there is an automatic calibre 26-330 S C with a walking reserve of 45 hours.
The manufacturer’s suggested price is $52,635 and all of them are said to already have a new “keeper”. How much will the aftermarket price be? Well, one can assume that it will be one of the most desirable Patek.
A brief history of Patek Philippe
It all began in the first half of the 19th century. Two Polish immigrants – Antoni Patek and Franciszek Czapek – settled in Switzerland. They were forced to relocated as a result of the failure of the November Uprising. Both men took part in the battle and Patek was awarded the War Order of Virtuti Militari. Czapek who was a watchmaker by profession arrived to Switzerland earlier than his friend, Patek. He founded his first company with a certain gentleman called Moreau but in 1839 Patek and Czapek became business partners.
At the beginning the two men adopted a simple business plan: they fitted ready-made mechanisms inside beautiful, ornamental bezels. After some time, they discovered that the manufacturing of luxury timepieces for the Polish aristocracy was quite a profitable business. They would engrave Polish motifs on the bezels, e.g the image of Kościuszko.
The two friends parted their ways a few years later: Czapek wanted to run the little factory and Patek wanted to create watches. So, Patek joined forces with the Frenchman Adrien Philippe, the inventor of a mechanism which allowed watches to be wound and set by means of a crown rather than a key.
The name Patek Philippe was first used in 1851. The very same year the brand’s timepieces were exhibited at the World Exhibition in London. One of them caught the eye of Queen Victoria who bought it for herself. The company received a gold medal for their products. They could not have wished for better publicity of their business. Patek Philippe watches instantly gained worldwide stardom.
The famous advertising slogan of the brand is “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” As such, it is not surprising that every watch by this Swiss maker is a timepiece with a rich past and a track record. The company claims to have information about each and every Patek Philippe watch that has ever been made. Each timepiece has a unique number and all important events related to the given watch e.g. sale or repair, replacement, are recorded in a ledge. Therefore, if someone is selling a Patek timepiece without a track record, you can be sure it to be a counterfeit product.
