imagenes gratisThe Nautilus by Patek Philippe. Timelessly contemporary for 40 years
The year 1976 was in the middle of a decade characterized by social, economic, political, and cultural upheavals. A spirit of invigoration emerged to finally overcome the somberness of the post-war years. Anything that was pleasing was also permissible. That applied to hippies and to those people who set up businesses in garages during the fledgling years of the computer industry. Growing affluence freed leisure time for sports, travel to faraway places, cultural interests, and intellectual discourse. People worked to live rather than living to work. Philippe Stern was a typical representative of this generation. It was his grandfather Charles, along with brother Jean, who in 1932 had acquired Patek Philippe, a respected watchmaking company. In 1976, Henri Stern was president of the family-run enterprise, and his son Philippe, who already held an executive position, was poised to succeed him. It was the right time for a showpiece, so he decided to launch a sports wristwatch for the first time in the 137-year history of the manufacture. In close collaboration with Gérald Genta, one of the most gifted watch designers of the 20th century, an innovative timepiece began to take shape, one unlike any seen at Patek Philippe or in the entire watch industry for that matter: the Nautilus Ref. 3700/1A. It was voluminous and made of steel, although the prevailing trend favored very slender watches in gold. It was water resistant to 120 meters, a sensation at the time. And unlike any other wristwatch, it embodied a maritime, nautical aspect: Philippe Stern was a passionate skipper and successful regatta contestant on Lake Geneva.
Innovative in design, construction, and communication
The salient features of the Nautilus Ref. 3700/1A were two lateral case extension ridges at 9 and 3 o'clock, resembling hinges that joined the two-part case ensemble (conventional cases consist of three parts). They were inspired by the locking mechanisms of classic ocean liner portholes that could be sealed to prevent the ingress of water. The crystal was framed by an octagonal bezel with gently curved sides and rounded corners, satin-finished on the upper plane and mirror-polished on the beveled flanks. The solid stainless steel bracelet featured the same matt/gloss effect. Despite its ruggedness, it was surprisingly supple on the wrist. The dial, in a blue-tint charcoal, stood out with a horizontal embossed pattern and was graced with applied luminous baton hour markers to match the slender luminous baton hands. For this oeuvre, the name Nautilus was a perfect fit, whether it was associated with cephalopod mollusks and their beautiful spiral shells or with Captain Nemo's submarine that Jules Verne dispatched on a perilous expedition in his book Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
