1985 Patek Philippe Nautellipse St/G Ref. 3770 (Box and Papers)

Not a Nautilus, not an Ellipse

Here is the funky and stylish Patek Philippe 3770, the so-called Nautellipse. A hybrid of the iconic Ellipse and Nautilus which was launched in 1980 and only lasted until the early 90s. The 3770 was the child of the Quartz crisis, like the square Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Vacheron Constantin 222 the design was cheeky and very unusual, made to be noticed. In those years the Ellipse was in its full bloom and the Nautilus 3700 was not selling that well due to the large size and price so Patek came up with this slimmer and sportier dressy Sport swatch.

The Nautellipse has a very slim and sleek design with a rather elongated case that spreads nicely over the wrist. The 3770 was made in yellow gold, stainless steel and two tone and having said that, the Nautellipse is probably the only watch, in my opinion, that looks best in two tone. The bezel and 'ears' are kept in yellow gold with a base case in stainless steel. The dial is very interesting and one can almost say there is an Ellipse in the dial, the inner part of the two tone dial actually resembles the iconic Ellipse shape. The outer part of the dial has a Sector dial feel with its golden baton indexes. A great feature are also the Dauphine hands which we never see on a Nautilus, only on some earlier examples of the Ellipse. The integrated bracelet shows similarities to the Nautilus bracelet with the fine difference that the links look more elongated and 'Ellipse' style  

With less than 500 pieces known to have been produced this design masterpiece is a rather rare version of the Nautilus that, with its funky aesthetics is a lot of joy on the wrist. 

It comes in a full set with boxes, booklets and original Certificate by Gobbi in Milano.