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Actor Jonah Hill spotted wearing Patek Philippe

Jonah Hill made his directorial debut with 'Mid90s,' a coming-of-age film steeped in nostalgia for early-to-mid 1990s Los Angeles skate culture. On his wrist for the press circuit, Hill chose a timepiece with its own considerable history: a Patek Philippe Nautilus reference 3700 in 18K yellow gold, dating to approximately 1980, with a black dial that carries four decades of honest aging.

The Nautilus ref. 3700 is where the legend begins. Introduced in 1976 at the Basel Fair, it was designed by Gerald Genta — the same mind behind the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak — and represented a radical proposition: a luxury sports watch in steel, priced higher than many gold dress watches of the era. The ref. 3700 houses calibre 28-255 C, an automatic movement with a 48-hour power reserve, operating at 19,800 vph. Its integrated bracelet, porthole-inspired octagonal bezel with rounded corners, and horizontally embossed dial became instant design vocabulary for the entire industry.

The yellow gold variant of the 3700 is a different animal from the steel original. Produced in substantially lower quantities throughout the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the gold Nautilus was positioned as a luxury tier above the already-expensive steel model — an unusual hierarchy that persists conceptually even today. On a black dial aged to a warm, slightly matte finish, the yellow gold case and integrated bracelet read with a period-correct elegance that no modern reissue fully replicates.

For serious collectors, a ref. 3700 in yellow gold with an original black dial in honest, unpolished condition represents a grail-tier acquisition. Provenance, originality of the dial, and bracelet completeness drive value dramatically. Prices for these pieces have escalated sharply as Nautilus mania — amplified by Patek's 2021 discontinuation of the steel ref. 5711 — pushed collector attention back toward first-generation references.

Hill's choice reflects a collector sensibility beyond trophy buying. The ref. 3700 is not a watch you stumble upon; it requires knowledge, patience, and access. At an estimated market value of $100,000, this yellow gold Nautilus sits at the intersection of horological history and serious investment — a fitting accessory for a filmmaker signaling he plays the long game.