As the poster child and textbook example of the ultimate hype watch, some of you may be rolling your eyes at the sight of the perfect replica Patek Philippe x Tiffany & Co. Nautilus 5711/1A-018. It’s the Nautilus model that required the biggest VIP status and purchase history to be allocated one, limited to 170 pieces with a retail price over US$20,000 more than a standard 5711 due to its Tiffany blue dial. The watch is significant in that it was a celebration of luxury fake Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co.’s 170 years of partnership, and more importantly, the last 5711 to be made before its impending discontinuation.
The way these watches initially hit the market entailed 169 pieces being allocated by Tiffany & Co. through their boutiques in New York, Beverly Hills, and San Francisco where they sell aaa quality replica Patek Philippe, with one piece reserved for auction through Phillips to raise money for charity. The retail price was set at US$52,635. The last 5711 ever, sold at Phillips, went for an astounding US$6,500,000 after buyer’s premium. In the weeks after, we saw mega-collectors and celebrities such as Jay-Z, LeBron James and Leonardo DiCaprio wearing Tiffany Swiss movement fake Patek Philippe 5711s. It was, and in some ways remains, the ultimate status symbol.
We are now a few years in the wake of this ultimate hypebeast moment, and with such a massive premium to be had on the secondary market, more than a few of these high quality fake Patek Philippe 5711/1A-018s have hit the grey market. Toda,y you can still find listings from vendors such as Wrist Aficionado with the 5711/1A-018 set at US$1.5M to as much as US$3M. Now entering the chat, however, is Loupe This. As a younger auction house, the marketplace audience is perhaps not as vast as Sotheby’s, but those who are tuned in (tooting my own horn here, as I bought my Credor Eichi II from Loupe This), are real watch people.
I tend to find the most honest results happen on Loupe This. With no reserve and a lower buyer’s premium of 10%, the final results are not inflated as you might find elsewhere (keep in mind that the US$6.5M result at Phillips for the last top quality replica Patek Philippe 5711/1A-018 was actually US$5.35M before the buyer’s premium.)