Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Guram Gvasalia spotted wearing Patek Philippe

Guram Gvasalia, the Georgian-born businessman who built Vetements into one of the most disruptive fashion labels of the past decade, was recently spotted with a Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A-010 on his wrist — a choice that signals as much about taste as it does about access.

The Nautilus 5711/1A-010 is the definitive iteration of Gérald Genta's iconic 1976 design: a 40mm stainless steel case with the model's signature porthole-inspired bezel, horizontally embossed blue-grey dial, and integrated steel bracelet. Inside beats the calibre 26-330 S C, a self-winding movement with a 45-hour power reserve, visible through the sapphire caseback. Water resistant to 120 metres, it balances genuine sport utility with haute horlogerie finishing — bevelled bridges, chamfered edges, and Patek's characteristic côtes de Genève decoration throughout.

The reference 5711/1A-010 occupied the top of Patek Philippe's sport watch lineup for years, but its cultural weight reached a peak precisely when supply became finite. In January 2021, Patek CEO Thierry Stern publicly announced the 5711 would be retired, triggering a collector frenzy that had already been building for years. Waiting lists at authorised dealers stretched beyond a decade, making the watch essentially unavailable through legitimate retail channels regardless of price. Its discontinuation transformed the 5711/1A-010 from a desirable reference into an outright grail.

For Gvasalia, whose professional world sits at the intersection of streetwear provocation and high fashion business, the Nautilus 5711/1A-010 is an entirely coherent choice. The watch occupies a similar cultural position to Vetements' early collections — something simultaneously insider and instantly legible to those who know, requiring no explanation among peers.

On the grey market, the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A-010 commands substantial premiums over its now-historical retail price of approximately £19,020 in the UK. Secondary market transactions have settled in the $50,000–$70,000 range depending on condition, papers, and timing, with peak COVID-era prices touching well above that. For a stainless steel watch with a retail list price in the mid-twenty-thousand range, few references in watchmaking history have demonstrated this degree of sustained market conviction.