When LVMH finally got the deal to acquire Tiffany & Co. over the line, it gave Patek Philippe president, Thierry Stern, a jolt.
The relationship between Tiffany and Patek Philippe dates back to 1851, when Antoine Norbert de Patek and Charles Tiffany met in New York and a partnership was sealed with a handshake that has endured ever since.
In an interview with Hodinkee during Watches & Wonders, Mr Stern suggests that the creation of the final Nautilus 5711 would be in Tiffany blue, and would be co-signed on the dial by the retailer.
This was not as a means to ramp up the hype for the outgoing 5711 even further — hardly necessary once an olive green version was revealed as a one-year-only swansong for the decommissioned reference — but as a reminder to LVMH about the 170 year old love affair between Patek Philippe and Tiffany.
“I said, okay, let’s make really the final edition for Tiffany. They deserve it because we have been working so long with them. It was their 170th anniversary,” Mr Stern recalls in the Hodinkee interview.
“Plus, the fact that LVMH bought them — when you buy something for nearly $16 billion, it’s not something you see every day. We are partners with Tiffany. I would also like to stay with Tiffany. So that’s why I decided to do it,” he reveals.
As a token of affection between Patek Philippe and LVMH-owned Tiffany, an ultra limited Nautilus 5711 capable of commanding over $6 million at auction, is not a bad gift.
