The Nautilus at fifty
Half a century after its 1976 debut, Patek Philippe marked the anniversary of its most famous sports watch at Watches and Wonders 2026.
Few watches have a birthday that the whole industry notices. The Nautilus, introduced in 1976, is one of them. At Watches and Wonders Geneva in April 2026, Patek Philippe marked fifty years of the design.
The anniversary pieces
As reported by Watchonista, the collection includes a 38mm platinum reference 5610/1P and a 41mm white gold reference 5810/1G, each limited to 2,000 pieces. The anniversary watches are 6.9mm thick, use the ultra-thin Caliber 240 and carry a 22K gold rotor engraved “50 1976-2026”.
A sports watch that became a design object — and stayed one for half a century.
An object for the desk
The house also presented a Nautilus desk clock in white gold with an eight-day power reserve, limited to 100 pieces — a reminder that the porthole shape works at any scale.
Why it endures
The Nautilus endures because its design is legible at a glance: the rounded octagonal bezel, the horizontal embossed dial, the integrated bracelet. Fifty years on, it remains one of the clearest examples of an object whose form became its signature.
