Weekly Watch Photo – Nautilus Chrono – Patek Philippe ref. 5980/1A

Every time I see the Nautilus Chronograph, I have the feeling my knees get a bit weak and my vision gets a bit blurry (that means, everything around this watch gets blurry). A typical case and I plead guilty.

End of last year I posted Bruno’s photo of his Patek Philippe Nautilus Chronograph or (for connoisseurs) the reference 5980/1A. In that post I wrote about my collection and how we sometimes seem to get our orders directly from a higher force. Because I don’t have the financial means to fulfill those orders I will keep posting other people’s photos of the 5980/1A.

Joe B. (or JeepRat on Timezone.com) posted some of his photos in the Patek Philippe forum over at Timezone and was so kind to let me share his photo of his beloved Patek. Writing about watches has its privileges, however it also has some serious dangers. Because of Monochrome I am invited to watch events and the big yearly watch fairs. And yes, it’s absolutely brilliant to be able to attend these events and fairs, see and handle so many beautiful watches and visit manufactures.

The downside is… I’m exposed to so many beautiful, gorgeous, stunning and mind-blowing watches that there will always be a watch (or two, or three, or…) that gets under my skin. Until recently I’ve been so lucky that I could afford the watches that I really, really wanted. ‘Until recently’ I said because since my first meeting with Patek Philippe at Baselworld (where I also got to see this beautiful Aquanaut Travel Time), I was hooked for the Nautilus Chrono. And it is simply ‘above budget’.

Now I tell to myself it’s not a bad thing this watch is ‘above budget’. Of course I don’t need to be able to buy every watch that I like and it’s even perfectly fine that I cannot afford the ones that I really, really…really want. A certain degree of desire, wanting things that are out of reach, is good because it strengthens the passion. And simply being able to buy any watch I want, would probably take away some of the silver lining as well. Ah, who am I kidding… I still really, really…really want one!

Much obliged to Joe B for letting me use his stunning photos of his stunning watch! This keeps the dream alive. So until I can make photo of my own Patek Nautilus Chrono, I hope to share the photos of some lucky owners.

This article is written by Frank Geelen, executive editor for Monochrome Watches.