The Nautilus was released later than the
Royal Oak by
Audemars Piguet and offered a different take on the idea of a luxury sports watch, though like the
Royal Oak (equally designed by Mr Genta), it was made in steel (for the standard version). The early 1970s was a time of great change within the watch industry, where 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 – offering a true competitor to
Audemars Piguet's then four-year-old
Royal Oak. The reference 3700
Nautilus is often referred to as ‘Jumbo’, on account of its relatively imposing size for the period.
The ref. 3700/001A 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. At the time of its release, the world was already shifting towards highly-commercialized, quartz watchmaking. In 1969,
Seiko launched the first quartz wristwatch - its success (and successors), driving the mechanical watch industry to critically low levels of production by the early 1980s. As a result of the
Nautilus’ innovative design, only 3,300 examples of the 3700/001A are estimated to have been produced.
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 watch design. Its etymology comes from Jules Verne’s novel
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, after the ‘Nautilus’ submarine, used by Captain Nemo.
Like the
Royal Oak, the
Nautilus’ water-resistant technology (120 meters) required innovative strategy. Gerald Genta’s inspiration for the iconic
Nautilus architecture was to replicate that of the secure ‘porthole’ windows, found on transatlantic ocean liners, complete with a two-piece, solid mono-block and octagonal bezel, secured by four lateral screws (concealed at 3 and 9 o’clock), holding the case tightly together.
This steel,
Nautilus 3700/001A watch is the perfect balance between utilitarian function and elegant design. The case and bracelet are excellently finished, with beveled, polished and granular surfaces. The all-original bracelet (with a full complement of links) has almost no stretch. At 42mm in diameter, and only 7.6mm thick, the 3700 case is a beautiful twist of perspectives and size. The inner-case-back correctly displays the watch’s unique serial number (532 XXX), as well as the reference number ‘3700/1’, below the manufacture’s signature. The underside of the hinge-inspired 'ears' (located at 3 and 9 o'clock) also display a 3-digit serial number, appropriately matching the last 3-digits on the inner case-back.
The hand-made, ridged dial, manufactured by Stern Fréres, displays horizontal grooves with deep grey colouration. The applied hour markers are tritium-filled, with ‘dash’ outer-minute divisions, original polished baton-hands (with luminous inserts) and a date aperture at 3 o’clock (with original date-disc). With this example, the index-markers and hands are manufactured from white gold, indicated by the lower case Greek letter ‘sigma’ at the bottom of the dial. These have shown wonderful patination in places, as the white gold index markers have begun to oxidise, over time.
The
Nautilus 3700/001A is powered by the ultra-slim calibre 28-255C, derived from
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s legendary 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. The
Patek Philippe calibre 28-255C remains one of the thinnest full-rotor self-winding movements in the world, considered by many as one of the most stunningly refined and technically impressive wrist-watch movements ever made. Importantly, its movement serial number (1.303.XXX) corresponds with its year of production.
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 from 1976-82. The clasp of this 3700/001A bracelet corresponds to earlier examples of the 3700/001A, without “Nautilus” engraved alongside “PATEK PHILIPPE GENÉVE”, “STEEL INOX”, and “SWISS MADE”.
The present example was manufactured in 1977, evidenced by the accompanying Archive Extract, confirming the date of sale - or in this case the date of delivery to an authorised distributer - as June 14th, 1977.
This 3700/001A
Nautilus comes with an original, highly-collectable
Patek Philippe cork box and accompanying Archive Extract (dated October 10th, 2006).
In 2006,
Patek Philippe marked the 30th anniversary of the
Nautilus by introducing the reference 5711/1A, which itself has already achieved something akin to a cult-like status. Our original, 3700/001A therefore represents an exceptional opportunity to acquire the founding reference of what is today, one of the world's rarest and most desirable vintage sports watches.
Viewings can be arranged in Central London by appointment.
