- Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe is releasing a special-edition Nautilus marking its relationship with Tiffany.
- Just 170 units of the ultra-popular Ref. 5711 watch with a trademark Tiffany Blue face will be available.
- This production marks the end of the Nautilus line, which Patek says has gotten too popular.
In a surprise encore following January's news that Patek Philippe's famed Nautilus Ref. 5711 series was coming to an end, the Swiss watchmaker announced this week that it had one more thing up its sleeve.
In honor of the company's 170-year brand relationship with Tiffany & Co., Patek is releasing 170 copies of the 5711 featuring a Tiffany Blue face and a commemorative engraving on the case.
The relationship between the jeweler and the watchmaker dates back to 1851, when Charles Lewis Tiffany agreed to sell Antoine Norbert de Patek's timepieces in the US.
This is not the first time the watch company has partnered on a Tiffany version of its watches — first in 2001 for the 150th anniversary, and three more times since.
But it is the first Tiffany-branded offering of the Nautilus 5711, which has become one of Patek's most sought-after models since its launch in 2006.
In fact, the iconic sport watch has gotten so popular that Patek's President Thierry Stern felt it was detracting from the company's other models.
"I have still no idea why suddenly, the success [of this watch] came so fast and went so high," Stern told CNBC. "But what I know is that I do not want to be a mono-product company. So this is why I stopped the 5711. We made enough of it."
When the company announced the Nautilus had reached the end of the line earlier this year, watch aficionados — some who had been on multi-year waitlists — were apoplectic.
"We are doing this for our clients who already own a Patek Philippe and to protect our brand from becoming too commercial," Stern told the New York Times in February.
"I can continue to make this fantastic product, or sell 10 times more of them. But I am not working for numbers. I am protecting the company for the future, for my children," he said.
With just 170 units for sale at Tiffany boutiques — well, 169, since one will be auctioned for charity on Saturday — the odds of one of these watches finding its way to a first-time buyer are slim.
Even if someone has the requisite $52,000 on hand, exclusive deals like this often depend on special relationships with a seller's preferred customers. As it approaches two centuries in business, the jeweler's list of names is probably a lot longer than the list of serial numbers it has to assign.
"There will be 170 people who are very happy and the rest will be unhappy," Stern says he told Tiffany owners Bernard and Alexandre Arnault, according to CNBC.
If by chance one of these watches makes it to the secondary market, it could easily double or even triple in value, as other pre-owned 5711's are selling for $100,000 or more.
Back in February, Stern hinted to the Times that Patek's follow-up to the 5711 series would be "major" and follow a "logical" progression.
"But I will not say today in what metal or if it will be in steel," he said. "It is like Christmas. You don't want to know your gift before it's Christmas, do you?"