There are celebrities who wear watches, and then there are those who are watch guys. It should be clear by now that Brad Pitt, part-time casino robber and upcoming ex-race car driver, falls in the latter camp
In addition to being one of us, you might’ve noticed that Pitt and fellow A-lister George Clooney are gracing the cover of GQ’s September issue. But you might not have noticed that Mr. Pitt took the cover opportunity to show off yet another killer timepiece in hiis collection: a vintage ref. 3800/1J, a solid-gold Patek Philippe Nautilus the maison introduced in 1981 as a smaller version of the groundbreaking, and larger, ref. 3700, nicknamed the “Jumbo.” (The 3800 has friends in high places: Jay-Z is also a fan!)
On Clooney: Turtleneck by Loro Piana. His own watch (throughout) by Omega. On Pitt: Turtleneck by Loro Piana. Watch and ring (on left hand, throughout) his own.
Y’all probably know the story of the Nautilus by now: In the early 1970s, legendary Swiss watch designer Gérald Genta was roped into designing a distinctive luxury sports model for Audemars Piguet. The result of that hurried prompt was the Royal Oak, now one of the giants of the industry. Following the RO’s 1972 debut, Patek Philippe came to Genta to recreate the magic. The Nautilus, which debuted in 1976, played some of the same melodies as the Royal Oak—both are founding members of the esteemed luxury-sports watch club. But the Nautilus manages to differentiate itself in many ways. The Patek is inspired by a ship’s porthole, the rounded octagon of the case is secured by two “ears,” which would allow the window to hinge open on an actual porthole. Like the Royal Oak, it features an integrated bracelet and an ultra-thin, automatic movement from Jaeger-LeCoultre. The Nautilus’s dial, with its trademark horizontal grooves, further distinguished it from that earlier, rival watch. The 42-millimeter “Jumbo” variation of the Nautilus is the OG and prices on the secondary market generally begin at around six figures.
But the 42mm Nautilus wasn’t ideal for every wrist size, so Patek debuted the slightly downsized ref. 3800 in 1981. Unlike its bigger brother, this watch features a central seconds hand powered by an in-house movement, the automatic Calibre 335 SC—a feature that would carry over into every time-and-date version of the Nautilus from ‘81 forward. Available in numerous metals, Pitt’s is a ref. 3800/1J, signifying a yellow gold case and bracelet, in this case with a matching gold dial. (The “J” version, indicating yellow gold, can also be found with a black dial, a blue dial, etc.) Though it doesn’t trade for quite as much as its “Jumbo,” predecessor, the 3800/1J still starts at a handsome $75K on the secondary market.
Is this hefty gold Nautilus Mr. Pitt’s only vintage Patek? Far from it: We saw him rocking a particularly fetching ref. 2526 with a white enamel dial back in February of this year. The 2526 is one of the darlings of non-complicated vintage Patek collecting, and only 3,000 or so examples were made between 1953 and 1960. Furthermore, he wore it on an interesting bracelet that even Patek super-authority John Reardon had trouble identifying.
