Patek Philippe X Tiffany & Co. has disrupted the watch community with the announcement of the new Tiffany dial Nautilus ref: 5711/1A-018.

People are going crazy over a collab watch that many of them don’t understand. First, the 170 years thing isn’t about the anniversary of Patek or the Nautilus. Tiffany & Co. was founded in 1837 and Patek Philippe spans all the way back to 1839. In fact, they already had their $2.6 million 175th Anniversary watch back in 2014. The Nautilus model was launched in 1976, so that’s not it either.

The 170th anniversary being celebrated here is that of the business relationship between Patek and Tiffany. 1851 is the year that Tiffany agreed to sell Patek watches in the United States.

Another topic of confusion and contention on watch social media is because of Patek’s recent announcement to stop mass production of the Nautilus, ending the run with the green dial 5711. Something about the owner of Patek Philippe protecting the company for his children. Simply put, your watch hobby boils down to ensuring the wealth of future generations of already rich and powerful families.

Then, out of the blue (or into the blue) comes the Tiffany Patek limited edition drop with only 170 pieces. 99.9% of the angered masses weren’t going to buy one anyway, 80% are probably just confused Rolex “Tiffany” dial OP owners… because now we all have to start putting “Tiffany” in quotes when discussing that particular watch.

Why? Because the “Tiffany” dial Oyster Perpetual 36 isn’t actual a Tiffany watch, and the blue isn’t actually Tiffany Blue (a registered trademark). It’s official name is Turquoise Blue. The Patek Tiffany dial is the real deal. Folks, it literally says Tiffany & Co. across the dial. Makes you wonder, did PP and T&C come up with this piece before or after the Rolex Turquoise blue hype?

Fun Facts: Using the color eyedropper in the Firefox browser, the blue color in the dial image on the Rolex site is color hex code #95d1d2. The hex code Tiffany uses on their site is #81d8d0.

To make it even more official, Patek etched LVMH out of the 1 in 2021 on the exhibition caseback. Patek Philippe is still independently owned, but Tiffany & Co. is one of the flagships in the Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton conglomerate of luxury goods as of a $15.8 billion deal that closed in January 2021. Get it? 1 LVMH = 1 year anniversary of Tiffany X LVMH.

“170th Anniversary 1851-2021 Tiffany & Co. – Patek Philippe” -Caseback text

While there have been legit Tiffany & Co. signed Rolex dials in the past, the 2021 “Tiffany” dial Oyster Perpetual ain’t one of them. It’s like the Turquoise OP is on social media without a verification badge, then the Nautilus opens a brand new account and gets verified on day one.

There’s no reason to get upset about the ultra limited release. It was hinted to some that there would be a special drop this in the near future. Well, folks, the future is here. Although, nobody could’ve guessed this piece was coming, and that’s what makes it cool.

Either way, 170 light blue dial stainless steel watches retailing for about $52,000 USD each are about to be sold for easily well over $100k a pop – maybe $500k. And if you don’t think some Patek/Tiffany insiders could possibly cherry pick these and sell them back on the secondary market for quadruple the price, then you belong on a Rolex waitlist 😛

Aside from a single piece being auctioned off by Phillips Auctioneers on December 11, 2021, the Tiffany blue Nautilus will only be sold at Tiffany & Co. stores with Patek Philippe boutiques inside (list here). The new model is not currently listed on either the Tiffany or Patek official sites.

As a side note, it’s comical that when KeepTheTime was founded back in 2008, dealers couldn’t give away Tiffany signed Rolex Datejust watches, they were practically toxic. Nobody wanted them. The future is strange isn’t it?

Quick Specs:

• Reference: 5711/1A-018
• Movement: Automatic, Swiss made
• Caliber: PP 26-330 S C
• Case Material: Stainless steel
• Diameter: 40mm
• Thickness: 8.3mm
• Band: Stainless steel bracelet
• Water-Resistant up to 120m

Additional Resources:

• Official press-release PDF from 12/6/21

Images via Patek Philippe