A few weeks ago, I asked Patek Philippe owner Thierry Stern if he had any more launches planned for this year. He smiled mischievously and said he had one final “bomb”.
When we next met, he lit the metaphorical fuse, telling me he had made 170 examples of the celebrated 5711 steel Nautilus with a Tiffany blue dial to mark as many years of collaboration between his family’s firm and the American jeweller, which LVMH acquired for $15.8bn last year.
Patek Philippe and Tiffany have a special relationship, begun in 1851 when Antoine Norbert de Patek made his first trip to America and met Charles Lewis Tiffany, who then began to sell Patek Philippe watches in his store. Today, Tiffany is the only other brand name that Patek Philippe permits on its watch dials, and Patek Philippe is the only external watchmaker stocked by Tiffany.