Is the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 olive green watch a tale of horological obsession?

What's all the fuss about a green dial Nautilus Patek Philippe 5711 watch?

The latest hottest luxury timepiece, the olive green dial 5711 Patek Philippe Nautilus (ref. 5711/1A-014 to be precise) hit the luxury watch market on April 8, 2021. Not long after that, the same watch was spotted for sale in the secondary watch market (aka the grey market) in a promotional video for the Antiquorum auction house in Monaco. The furore that happened next will amaze you.

Rather unfortunately, in the course of this video, the name Gregory Pau was displayed accidentally and innocently as the registered owner of said Patek watch. It wasn't long before the world's savvy watch whisperers had alleged that an authorised Patek Philippe dealer in Barcelona has a son with the same name.

A Grey Market Social Media Storm

It is very hard to move up the echelons of the luxury watch market when you are looking to buy your first luxury brand retail watch from watch sellers like Patek Philippe. If you can get over the intimidation of entering one of these shiningly luxurious stores or authorized dealerships, will they even have been allocated a slot to have a watch of this calibre and demand anyway? Getting on the list is one thing, but would you even get the chance to hold one of these mythical creatures in the palm of your hands, let alone purchase one? You stand next to no chance of becoming one of the chosen few to be permitted the pleasure of a purchase at the retail price. All that is left to you is to dream of being able to spend a cool $500K USD to buy one on the grey market.

Such is the restricted market of these kinds of watches, which of course feeds into the demand with its associated marketing in a perpetual loop, that there develops a groundswell of obsession when the latest masterpiece from the grand masters of Switzerland is released. Who has one? Who has seen one? Who can get hold of one?

Green dials to represent the green social media geeks

Whether it be a Patek Philippe grandmaster chime, a grande sonnerie, a perpetual calendar, a chronograph or a split second repeater, we cannot deny that these rare pieces of art are truly incredible. The demand is truly, exhaustingly, off the scale, and the the brands in question are truly revered. No wonder then that when it is alleged that a Patek Philippe retailer has perhaps flipped a 5711 then they will become instant outcasts in the watch community. Outcast not only by the watch brand in question, who is feeling hurt and disrespected, but by the green watch fam who could only dream of owning one of these jewels to their crown and would never dream of selling it, even for a profit of $450k. Yes, even for that...

It would be difficult to deny that when it comes to the top end brands, such as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille and Rolex, that the luxury watch market is in a bubble. When crises hit, assets fly and never has this dictum been truer than with luxury watches over the last few years.

We cannot also deny that some of the anger and outcry in the watch community has been, not simply by Patek Philippe, who's client seemingly broke the rules, but why a hungry mob of social media watch obsessives who know deep down that they would perhaps have done the same thing.

We are Team Gregory Pau

Who's side are you on here? We'd love to know. Are you Team Gregory Pau, or Team Patek slash Team watch YouTubers and commentators? At BillingtonPix we think the question is bigger than an apparent dodgy dealer. The whole question lies in how far is this going to go? How far will the luxury watch market stay on the restricted market ride before this rollercoaster crashes and burns? Would you have flipped your Patek Philippe nautilus 5711 olive green dial if you were lucky enough to own one, or are you a true and devoted Patek fan?

T-shirts that watch fans will relate to

There is always a t-shirt to suit a watch fan. At BillingtonPix we have a small collection of tees to suit the mood. Take a look and see what tickles your cogs.