The Nautilus
The '70s were a time of great change within the watchmaking industry. The Quartz Crisis was wreaking havoc, with the number of watchmakers in Switzerland having dropped from 1,600 to 600. At the time of the Nautilus' release, the world was already shifting towards highly-commercialised, quartz technology.
Against this backdrop, the concept of a luxury watch in steel was a truly revolutionary idea. In 1976, the introduction of Patek Philippe’s Nautilus firmly altered the direction of luxury sports watch design. It offered a true competitor to Audemars Piguet's then four-year-old Royal Oak, equally designed by Gérald Genta. The original reference 3700 was not only unprecedented in its design, but also in its initial pricing to consumers. When the Nautilus was released, the retail price for the watch was $3,100 - considerable for the time, and comparable to many of Patek Philippe’s gold dress watches.
Remarkably, Gerald Genta is said to have sketched the 3700’s design whilst dining meters away from Patek Philippe executives. His “five minutes of work”, is today considered one of the masterpieces of modern design. Its etymology comes from Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, after the "Nautilus" submarine, used by Captain Nemo.
An early example
This steel Nautilus 3700/001A watch is the perfect balance between utilitarian function and elegant design. It is understood that the 3700/001 - which is the earliest incarnation of the design - was produced between 1976 from 1982, with 3,300 examples in steel leaving the manufacture. The case and bracelet are excellently finished, with beveled, polished and granular surfaces.
The black ridged dial, manufactured by Stern Fréres, displays horizontal grooves with a deep blue and grey colouration. The applied hour markers are tritium-filled, with "dot" outer-minute divisions, and a date aperture at 3 o’clock. The original date disc remains fitted to the watch. The index-markers are manufactured from white gold, as indicated by the lower case Greek letter "Sigma" at the bottom of the dial.
The hands
With the objective of preserving them in their original condition, the original hands of the watch were replaced by Patek Philippe, during service. Exceptionally, in an effort to maintain the visual coherence of the watch, Patek Philippe agreed to artificially age Super Luminova hands, to match the colour of the hands and index-markers.
As far as we are aware, this is the first time, up to this point, that Patek Philippe has carried out a request of this kind, with the intervention being confirmed by the servicing paperwork which accompanies this watch. This 3700/001A is also accompanied by the original handset, which shows signs of degradation. This service was carried out by Patek Philippe, in October 2019, though the dial, case and bracelet remained untouched.
The bracelet
Two versions of the Patek Philippe Nautilus 3700 existed, carrying the references 3700/001A and later, the ref. 3700/011A - with two subtle variations in bracelet design. The links of the ref. 3700/001 are noticeably-wider and straighter than the ref. 3700/011A, which featured a more exaggerated bracelet taper.
Further to this, the bracelets found in earlier examples (like this 3700/001A) have fewer links, owing to each individual links’ larger size. The steel 3700/001A, with larger bracelet, was produced between 1976 and 1982. The clasp of this 3700/001A bracelet corresponds to later examples of the 3700/001A, from 1977 onwards, where “Nautilus” is engraved alongside “PATEK PHILIPPE GENÉVE”, “STEEL INOX”, and “SWISS MADE”.
The movement
The Nautilus 3700/001A is powered by the ultra-slim calibre 28-255C, derived from Jaeger-LeCoultre’s ultra-thin JLC 920 calibre movement. The caliber 2121 was based on the caliber 2120, an initial project of Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1967, funded and contributed to by Patek Philippe, and famous for its adoption by Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin (found in the Royal Oak 5402 and VC 222).
The 28-255C calibre features Patek Philippe's famed free-sprung Gyromax balance, with four ruby wheels to support the full-diameter rotor, which runs on a beryllium rail for stability. The solid-gold rotor is finished in classic Patek Philippe style, with circular Geneva stripes. Importantly, its movement serial number (1.306.XXX) corresponds with its year of production.
The set
The present example was manufactured in 1977, evidenced by the accompanying Extract from the Archives, confirming the date of sale as January 17th, 1979. This 3700/001A Nautilus is also accompanied by Patek Philippe servicing paperwork, from October 2019, confirming servicing of the movement, new hour and minute hands (aged to bring closer to the colour of the tritium index-makers), and the replacement of an unsigned crown.
Viewings are currently suspended for the time being.
