PaTEk PHiLiPPE

BluE TimE!

Mathilde Binetruy

There are colours that are addictive and that have been nestling, warm and cosy, in our minds since childhood. Water-mint, emerald, turquoise – no matter what we call it – it’s one of these hues. We all have a nostalgic recollection of it: be it an Indian ring we yearned for in a beach-side boutique, a bandana tied around our necks for our first-ever kiss, a fringed jacket worn when heading off to uni for the first time, a Blue Lagoon ordered to remind us of Tom Cruise, the legendary barman in Cocktail (1988)... This pool-coloured shade, a mix of blue and green, is a real Pandora’s Box! Yet, there’s also a brand that cannily chose to make it its emblem back in 1945: Tiffany & Co. Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902), its founder, initially wished to epitomize a spirit of optimism, energy and love. A luscious idea and a

successful bet! The front cover of the brand’s Blue Book, a volume unveiling the collection of jewellery to be launched, would become iconic. Today, everywhere around the globe, the NewYork jeweller’s blue box continues to be a benchmark, a signature that, literally, makes your heart skip a beat. This is exactly what happened on 6 December 2021 when Tiffany & Co. and Patek

Philippe presented a steel Nautilus reference 5711 watch boasting a lagoon-hued dial.

Just try and imagine what such a timepiece conjures up. Firstly, a carefully protected, emblematic colour on which Tiffany & Co. had established its reputation, which was valued at 14 billion dollars when purchased by LVMH on 21 November 2019. And, secondly, a sports model,

THis pool-colourEd sHadE, a mix of BluE and grEEn, is a rEal pandora’s Box!

THE grail of all grails for collEcTors: a nauTilus BoasTing Tiffany colours.

the Nautilus 5711/1A-010, launched by Patek Philippe in 2006 that everybody was fighting to get their hands on. The speculative madness even led Thierry Stern, CEO of the Geneva firm, to withdraw the reference from the catalogue in February 2021. Damned, not even one piece left to feed our fantasies. Except, perhaps, the latest variation released in April 2021 that everyone agrees is, without a doubt, the last one.

So, on this famous 6 December past, when the two prestigious companies co-signed a 170-piece limited series, well, the announcement went off like a bomb. Ok, admittedly it wasn’t the first time they’d partnered together because an agreement concluded in 1851 made Tiffany & Co. the first official retailer to sell Patek Philippe products on the American market. But with this opus of the saga, celebrating 170 years of shared history, and centre staging a “Tiffany Blue®” dial, social media went crazy, bids went through the roof: the Nautilus presented by Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo in New York on 11 December (with proceeds going to an environmental organization, The Nature Conservancy) was hammered down for 6,503,500 dollars! It’s now one of the most coveted watches in the world. To anyone out there who dreams of owning one of the remaining 169 pieces (count 52,000 dollars): head out West! The models are proposed in Tiffany & Co. stores in New York, Beverly Hills and San Francisco exclusively. In other words, when the American dream is born again.