Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Adam Mosseri spotted wearing Patek Philippe

Adam Mosseri, the executive who oversees Instagram for Meta, was recently photographed wearing a vintage Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 3700/001A in stainless steel — a watch that represents not just a milestone in Patek Philippe's history, but arguably the single most important moment in the entire sport-luxury watch category.

Introduced at the Basel fair in 1976, the Nautilus ref. 3700 was designed by Gérald Genta, the same mind behind the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak just a few years earlier. The brief was audacious: a waterproof, integrated-bracelet steel watch sold at a price that deliberately exceeded many gold dress watches of the era. The ref. 3700 — nicknamed the 'Jumbo' for its then-imposing 42mm case — houses the ultra-thin caliber 28-255 C, a manually wound movement with a mere 3.05mm profile that allowed the entire watch to sit at just 7.6mm on the wrist. The porthole-inspired octagonal bezel, horizontally embossed dial, and integrated bracelet remain among the most cohesive designs in watchmaking.

From a collector standpoint, the ref. 3700/001A occupies a tier shared by very few watches on earth. Production figures are estimated at roughly 3,300 units across the model's run, and first-series examples with specific dial variants — sigma indices, original bracelet, service-free movements — command extraordinary premiums. The reference has become a benchmark by which the entire Nautilus lineage is judged, and its influence on every steel sports watch produced since the 1970s is essentially incalculable.

Mosseri's choice is telling. At the helm of a platform that has shaped contemporary visual culture, he opts for a watch that predates digital photography entirely — a piece that earned its reputation through metallurgical craft and design logic rather than marketing. The ref. 3700 is a collector's collector watch, the kind of piece that requires research to acquire well.

On the grey market, original Nautilus ref. 3700/001A examples in strong condition regularly trade between $150,000 and $250,000, with exceptional, well-documented examples pushing considerably higher at auction. No current retail equivalent exists — Patek Philippe has never reissued the reference — making every surviving example a finite, appreciating asset.