The Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph Ref. 5990/1R Is Perfect For Reminding Your Friends How Much More Successful Than Them You Are

I guess by now you’ve heard of the Patek Philippe 5711. If not, let me brief you: basically, it is the modern stainless steel iteration of Gerald Genta’s (other) classic. It is one of the most desirable sports watches on the planet. In all seriousness, any list without the Nautilus in the top ten is lying to you. It is so desirable, in fact, that Patek Philippe can command €30,400 for a new one. Better still, pre-loved dealers are seeing prices for the recently discontinued blue dial model approach quarter of a million smackers. That’s a lot of cheddar for any mouse. However, if you can’t be mithered mixing it with the plebs as they chase after the “boring” 5711, how about you park your Ferrari on a quiet backstreet, slip into your local AD through the staff entrance, and pay cash for a brand new 5990/1R? I mean, why not?

Why not, indeed. Well, aside from the fact my bank balance can be heard screaming from inside the ATM, I don’t really have the complexion to pull off a full rose gold masterpiece. Blame it on a well-spent youth beneath the slate gray skies of northern England, if you like; I try to focus on that rather than my relative penury. If, however, you have a healthy color to your wrist and you happen to have close to €100k burning a hole in your no-doubt-velvet-lined pocket, I would be sorely tempted by this. Is this recency bias on my part? No. And I’ll tell you why.

Love/hate

I love the Nautilus. Really, I do. I believe myself to be impervious to trends as I guess most people of my generation do. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn I’m wrong on that front to some degree, but I’m sure that my admiration for the Nautilus is so deeply rooted in its design that it has nothing to do with the current mood towards the model.

Call it idiotic morality, if you like; call it plain idiocy if you prefer.

I will say this though: I never thought it was perfect. In fact, the date window, or, should I say, the size of the date font has always annoyed me about the modern version. I’m not going to lie to you and pretend I saw the current spike in prices for 5711 blue dials coming a mile off, but even if I had, I’m not sure I could have brought myself to move Heaven and Earth to acquire one just to make a quick buck.

Call it idiotic morality, if you like; call it plain idiocy if you prefer. Whatever, that’s not my style and never will be. If I’d loved that model and could have swallowed being stuck with it for the price I would have to pay, fine. I would have gone for it. But I didn’t, so I didn’t. Had I had the chance to buy a 3800/1A from around 1980 with a white-on-black date wheel, you could have taken my money in a flash…

Purity is always better

So the thing about the Nautilus is its design. Its iconic shape turned the industry on its head. Its remarkable strength and slimness are the stuff of legend. Strange, then, that the date window always seemed, to my eye, at least, to be such a clanger. It is akin to dropping a silver platter loaded with crystal flutes of Moët in the middle of a crowded restaurant (a nice one where people wear pants).

…all you need to sell is the silhouette.

The 5711 would have been better without it, in my opinion. The 3800/1A got away with it because it used a white-on-black date wheel paired with a smokey dial. The recently ousted 5711 could have employed the same trick, perhaps, but it too might have jarred. Better to stick with simplicity when all you need to sell is the silhouette. The moment you start adding superfluous bumf to that kind of watch, you might as well go the whole hog…

Enter the 5900/1R

And that leads us neatly to the Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph Ref. 5990/1R. I’ve never lusted after the overly complicated Nautiluses (Nautili?), but this one finally lured me in. The brand’s feisty Travel Time Chronograph has been outfitted with a blue sunburst dial, paired with a sumptuous rose gold case. Opulent? Ja. Divine. Doppel ja.

The 5990 retains every single bell and/or whistle from the previous offering in steel that originated in 2014. Within that luscious case, the CH 28-520 C FUS automatic movement beats. It’s furnished with plenty of tasty complications such as the 60-minute flyback chronograph, pusher-controlled travel time, a 12 o’clock date display, as well as the obligatory AM/PM indicator.

As is par for the course, the 5900, despite looking like the kind of person that would spend all day reclining on a sunlounger rather than divebombing the deep end of the pool, is water-resistant to 120 meters and thus clings to some of its sports watch street cred that the highly complicated movement and the full-gold case might have otherwise tarnished.

This model has a 40.5mm diameter and is 12.53mm thick and to the satisfaction of glow-bugs the world over, the applied indices are generously filled with lume so this will work even when the lights in your private jet go out. Learn more on Patek Philippe’s official website.