Patek Philippe boss can’t resist the Nautilus
The watch Stern tried to step back from could make him a quarter-billion francs.
In February 2021, Patek Philippe president and proprietor Thierry Stern gave an interview to Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung making a case against the world's most coveted watch: the steel Nautilus 5711. He didn't want any single model dominating Patek's image.
When he killed the 5711, it was at the peak of its cultural moment and resale value. Decade-long wait lists had caused usually sane people to make insane decisions at boutiques in the hope of an allocation. Stern pulled the pin, but not before releasing a farewell olive green edition and a Tiffany Blue collaboration that sent grey market prices into the stratosphere, contradicting every reason he gave for discontinuing it. Fourteen months later, he released the 5811 – the same watch, in white gold, at twice the price.
The Nautilus isn't just a popular watch, it is arguably the greatest watch ever designed – a Gérald Genta creation so complete, and so fully resolved in steel, it earned the hype that so clearly unsettled Stern. Replacing it required something close to genius. What we got was Cubitus.
Cubitus was leaked via a Fortune magazine advertisement two days before its official launch in October 2024, which, as introductions go, set the tone perfectly. The community backlash was instantaneous. Stern's response, delivered in an interview with Swiss business magazine Bilanz, was one of the poorest examples of customer and brand communications yet seen.
