DIVING DEEP WITH THE NEW NAUTILUS WATCHES
Octagons associate with casual elegant timepieces in Patek Philippe’s haute horlogerie. The Nautilus boasts a porthole-inspired case with an octagonal bezel, whereas Aquanaut has a rounded octagonal case and bezel. New members, equipped with impressive complications and straps featuring new patented foldover clasps, have been added to both families of watches this year.
Launched in 1976, the Nautilus series previously included various complications, among them a self-winding chronograph, a second time zone and the patented annual calendar. The new white- gold Nautilus, with the case’s height at 8.42mm, is one of Patek Philippe’s thinnest perpetual- calendar models, powered by self-winding 240 Q movement, whose architecture, featuring refined finissage — including Calatrava cross engraving on the winding rotor — can be admired through the sapphire-crystal case back.
The characteristic octagonal bezel is accented by vertically satin finished surfaces that contrast with polished chamfers, while the dial is decorated with raised horizontal and sunburst blue embossing. On the rounded octagonal dial, three subdials show the perpetual calendar’s functions, with the date indication at 6 o’clock slightly larger than the day/24-hour dial at 9 o’clock and month/leap-year cycle at 3 o’clock.
The moon-phase display is controlled by a mechanism that deviates from the actual position of the Moon by merely one day every 122 years.
The white gold bracelet comes with a patented fold-over clasp with four independent catches to optimise opening and comfort in wearing the Nautilus Perpetual Calendar.
Inspired by the design of the Nautilus, the chic and sporty Aquanaut line released in 1997 has been enriched with a self-winding flyback chronograph movement.
Melding tradition with innovation, the movement combines classic column-wheel control with modern, vertical disc clutch, which prevents hand bounce and rebound when starting the chronograph. The virtually friction-free clutch allows the sweep chronograph hand to also serve as a running seconds hand, thus eliminating the need for a seconds subdial.
The chronograph hand, peripheral railway track scale and 60 minute counter at 6 o’clock contrast in orange against the black dial adorned with Aquanaut’s typical embossed motif.
The rugged case features a refined alternation of satin- finished surfaces and flanks while producing the same interplay of light as the bezel with its smooth glossy surfaces and polished chamfers.
Water-resistant to 120 bar, the new steel Aquanaut Chronograph is delivered with two embossed composite straps in black and orange, the latter matching the colour accents on the dial to make a bold statement on the wrist.