An elegant classic! The Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1R
Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1R
I have done, and you’ve probably watched enough Nautilus reviews for me to skip my usual preamble about it being Patek’s answer to the Royal Oak and a watch borne from the 70’s design era of brutalist designs and integrated bracelets. My favourites.
Suffice it to say that 50 odd years after its inception, the Nautilus is still at the peak of desirable sports watches, and in my humble one, rightly so.
In any of its 3-handed incarnations it has “Goldilocks” sizing at 40mm, slim at 8.7mm and has a lug to lug of 48mm including end link.
Compact without being small, suitable for most wrist sizes, and without much further elaboration - one of the most comfortable watches you’ll ever wear.
This particular model, the 5711/1R made its debut at Baselworld in 2006 and was discontinued in January 2022, ostensibly because Thierry Stern didn’t want the brands other creations to be viewed solely as gateways to the Nautilus, a bit of a tricky situation that had been brewing since the pre Covid bubble of big brand sports watches becoming the be-all and end-all of watch collecting.
I can see his point, but I don’t like it as it ended the production of the beloved 5711 and was a harsh lesson about why we cant have nice things, and this masterpiece in full rose gold is a very very nice thing indeed.
While its steel and blue stablemate is the iconic sporty one, this rose gold variant with an equally glorious smoked brown dial takes the sporty and shifts it to both opulent and elegant.
The dial has the iconic Nautius horizontal embossed lines which are said to mimic the deck of a yacht (to go with the porthole bezel in a seafaring theme) and features a genuinely drop dead gorgeous gradient effect where it shifts from a golden brown at the centre to a deep dark almost black gradient at the outer edges which makes it both visually very interesting and an absolute breeze to read as far as legibility goes.
There’s no clutter here to get in the way, and Patek have kept the dial deliberately clean and free of 67 additional lines of unnecesary text, which is a Superlative move on their part.
The finishing of the case and bracelet alternates between polished and brushed, with laser accurate hand brushing along the top of the bezel, end links, and outer links of the bracelet while mirror polishing picks out the angles of the bezel along with the centre links of the bracelet. Its superbly well done and the mix of matte and polish pairs perfectly with the angular Genta design.
Its gold, but it’s certainly not “bling” or ostentatious.
It’s absolute class.
The additional weight of precious metal means that it also, strangely, feels more robust on the wrist.
It isn’t, of course, but gold weight does have a habit of adding the kind of mass that is really appealing when hugging the wrist.
It’s also a much warmer model, both in terms of wear because gold heats up to wrist temperature quickly, and also visually as the mixture of rose with its dark chocolate dial gradient is puts you in mind of cigars and cocktails at sunset while the blue steel Nautilus is still playing out in the surf somewhere.
Having made that analogy, it dawns on me that the word I’m looking for on this one is “mature”, which I think is a fair assessment for two reasons.
- It was a later ediition to the line and offfered cross-over appeal between sports Patek and precious Patek - a twain that didnt usually meet.
- Precious metals are rarely where watch collections begin, they’re usually an “end game” piece once you’ve tried and tested plenty of designs, models, and materials, and reach the point where what you really REALLY fancy, is a top of the line lump of precious metal, whether thats a Platona, a yellow gold Day-Date, a platinum Royal Oak, or a full rose Nautilus. Or all of them.
Trust me when I say that this sort of revelation tends to arrive at about the same time as needing glasses and preferring your own pillow.
This thought that may make you groan, but honestly, it really opens up the watch options and there really isn’t much better on the market in my opinion than a rose 5711.
Would I pick it over the iconic and legendarly blue dial, the OG, the GOAT, and the one that’s so searingly popular that it made Patek pull the plug?
Absolutely.
The 1R is the winner for me every time.