There’s a new, most expensive perfect replica Patek Philippe Nautilus in town, and yet again, it comes in any metal as long as it’s steel. After some spirited bidding, the team at Phillips was able to nudge the unique and engraved ref. 5711/1500A past the record set by the first Tiffany blue Nautilus, landing at CHF 6,700,000 – or around $7,650,000. If that sounds like a lot of money to you, don’t worry; it came with matching cuff links.
The watch – a hand-engraved unique piece donated by best fake Patek Philippe – was auctioned on behalf of the charity Children Action, established by Swiss entrepreneur Bernard Sabrier in 1994, which makes an effort to help impoverished children worldwide. This biannual event has auctioned off rare watches, like a unique Patek ref. 5270T-010 (a perpetual calendar chronograph with a titanium case, the rarest metal Patek has used in the modern era) with a vibrant green dial. That watch sold in 2022 for 9.7 million Swiss francs, showing that there is some logic left in the world and that a steel sports watch doesn’t beat one of Patek’s best complications. But I digress – just look at it.
Then there’s the UK high quality copy Patek Philippe Nautilus. Or what used to be the Nautilus, which has now been dethroned. You know the one. The Tiffany-dialed, Tiffany-signed 5711A “goodbye” to the reference (that turned out not to be the last hurrah after all) that Zach Lu rolled out of bed to buy at Phillips for $6.2 million.
There was a bit of a headache with that 1:1 wholesale replica watches, with the original “winning” bidder failing to pay. Regardless, Lu got the watch for that hefty price, and since 2021/2022, it has held a place in history. It’s possible he bought the new 5711/1500A (I’ve not been able to confirm if the bidder was seen in the room), but the Tiffany blue-dialed Nautilus no longer holds the record. Whether this is Patek’s final swan song to the Nautilus is anyone’s guess, but beating the previous record by over $1,000,000 is no small amount. It’s also a great amount of money to a charity raised by the “Māori-inspired” version of one of the most in-demand cheap super clone watches ever made.