Patek Philippe Nautilus 3800

Most of you will know the story of Gerald Genta and his designs for Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and IWC in regard to watches with an integrated bracelets design. Gerald Genta created the legendary Patek Philippe Nautilus being inspired by the portholes of transatlantic ships, this again was a nautical themed watch design (as it did with the AP and IWC designs) and Patek stayed in line with that tradition by naming the watch ‘Nautilus’ this in tribute to Captain Nemo’s submarine in Jules Verne’s novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. As the story goes, Genta sketched the watch in five minutes on a paper napkin in a restaurant.. It featured a bezel with softened and beveled angles, of course the well known integrated bracelet, and represented a subtle, yet at the time revolutionary balance between a sports and luxury watch, and the Nautilus has remained in production this way for over 40+ years.

A few years after the introduction of the original Nautilus, the 3700 reference, Patek introduced the 3800 reference (the watch you see here) it has a reduced diameter, bringing the case size down to 37.5mm and was meant to bring the Nautilus design to a wider audience who at the time preferred more modestly-sized watches. Luckily today, collectors and aficionados of (vintage) watches are once again appreciating the smaller sized pieces more and more, and in our humble opinion the sweet spot of similar watches lies between 36mm and 39.5mm – This Nautilus fits right in there and is therefor an absolute joy to wear, also thanks to its flat and slim profile. The Nautilus we are offering here is an example from 1997 and was sold on March 27th in that same year. This Nautilus spent the larger part of its life (approx. 21 years) on the beautiful Island of Ibiza, there she was soaked in sun rays transforming the dial from its dark tone to an amazing Ocean Green colour – Surprisingly the Patek paperwork describes the dial as followed; “Black matte ribbed dial, applied white gold indexes, tritium” Knowing that this dial started out as black dial, and looking at the awesome transformation it went through, it should be no surprise that this has to be one of the coolest Nautilus’s on the block! Besides, where will you find another green 3800 Nautilus… The ribbed Sigma dial does show some spotting here and there (which is not uncommon to see with older Nautilus models) but the most important thing is that this magnificent watch still features its original Sigma dial with its well known white gold indices, and again, that green colour.. All indices are filled with a lovely warm, custard toned Tritium, however the luminescent material inside the hands is whiter and have been replaced by Patek during the last service in 2019.

If there ever was a watch you needed to experience with your own two eyes, it is this one! The dial is phenomenal!

This Patek Philippe Nautilus 3800 was sent to the Patek HQ in Geneve for a full service back in 2019, and was hardly ever worn since its return. The center case, the bezel, the caseaback and the bracelet, all show a great condition with sharp angles and bevels all around. Our Nautilus is accompanied by the large Patek inner and outer boxes, Extract from the PP Archives, AD receipts, and the 2019 Patek Philippe Geneve service receipts. We did a full check on the entire movement, and she’s still performing according the factory specs – Nevertheless you willl of course receive our 24 month warranty, including all the Patek goodies belonging to this watch.

reference: 3800/1A
case number: 400XXXX
year of production: 1997
case diameter: 37.5mm
movement: automatic, Patek Philippe caliber 330SC
box and papers: Yes, super full set.

Sold