Nick Foulkes on The Nautilus by Patek Philippe | Christie's Watches

The author, watch collector and contributing editor to Vanity Fair and the Financial Times on the radical concept and ageless appeal of Patek’s iconic timepiece.
The Patek Philippe Nautilus is a watch that Nick Foulkes loves and has known for many years. ‘I am still struck by its boldness,’ says the author, journalist and editor of On Time, Vanity Fair’s twice-yearly watch supplement.
Foulkes confides that his interest in watches began in the 1970s. ‘I like them as objects of the past,’ he says. ‘Everything was going electric, digital and quartz, and for a few pence I could purchase a mechanical watch with wonderful patina that had this quality as if it was from another time.’
The Nautilus was launched in 1976, just as the watch industry was entering a period known as ‘The Quartz Crisis’. It was a watch that defied contemporary thinking and which heralded a new era. ‘Nobody could have predicted that the complicated mechanical timepiece would make a comeback,’ explains Foulkes.
What was significant about the Nautilus was not simply that it was made in steel, but that it was ‘made by Patek Philippe in steel’, says the collector. ‘It was moving with the times in all sorts of ways. The idea of a luxury watch [at the time] was of something that was thin, round and gold. The Nautilus wasn’t loud but it was different... It must have looked incredibly radical in the 1970s.’
Foulkes goes on to describe the Nautilus as ‘a watch that is almost all about the design’, with its integrated case and bracelet, and the iconic ‘porthole’ face. ‘If you’re on the road for 200 or 300 days a year and you can’t take your Picassos with you you can at least take a couple of watches and enjoy them. I find them very engrossing objects,’ he concludes. ‘They are, I think, examples of the applied arts.’
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Bernard Buffet: The Invention of the Modern Mega-Artist by Nick Foulkes (Random House) is available on Amazon.com

[@bsodmike]

I'm honestly more intrigued by the many rings worn by Nick above. Fantastic to hear his account on the Nautilus though.

[@conradjones635]

One of the few watches that looks good in two-tone.

[@gaeleus]

Great video! Love the watch. The all steel version is the most elegant version. The steel and yellow gold version appears dated though

[@calvinlove9425]

he had the vision to follow AP's revolutionary jumbo...

[@jumboJetPilot]

Calvin Love yet another Gerald Genta classic!

[@amintaslneto]

Couldn't agree more with Nick. Nice video

[@worldtimesa]

Great video, anyone know the soundtrack of the video?

[@mikefry5704]

Enjoy

[@scottsatren9796]

To Just thoughts really - Patek, the bandwagon, really. Gerald Genta designed both the Royal Oak & the Nautilus. Everyone has a right to their opinion but maybe one should take the time to do some research before exspressing it

[@GjergjiKoleka]

Back to a younger Nick from Foulkes cigars. Make this man a proper documentary

[@dggross]

Did not expect Lenin to show up in this video

[@shafserious2805]

best watch ever.

[@chronokenny8499]

Legend

[@Russell-1]

A stunning sports coat.

[@golfbuddy1969]

I live by few rules, one of which, is to take no man seriously, that wears more than one ring per hand.

[@BobbyDazzler888]

golfbuddy1969 or trust a man that doesn't not drink alcohol

[@bradd.mesina1061]

What a useless rule

[@golfbuddy1969]

@@BobbyDazzler888 “doesn’t not”??? So you don’t trust a man who drinks alcohol?

[@golfbuddy1969]

@@bradd.mesina1061 it’s my rule not yours. If a guy can’t see how tacky that is, he’ll struggle on many other things.

[@NorfTec]

@@golfbuddy1969 I’m curious as to why you think that, I wear many rings and am far from incapacitated in my judgment like you say I am. I understand it’s your opinion but to disregard someone solely on their choice to wear rings seems foolish

[@TheRausing1]

Enjoyable video, but it almost feels like he’s never heard of the Royal Oak? The Nautilus is hardly unique and original.

[@Kevin-kc2vu]

Why do you have and hang Lenin pictures behind you?tell me what's the love story of British and revolution in Russia...answer me,but truthfully..no stories