Nautilus

The Patek Philippe Nautilus is held together by its porthole-inspired case, softly rounded octagonal bezel, and a bracelet whose polished center links break up the brushed surfaces. Those details carry across decades, but the family spans slim two-hand originals, smaller automatic and quartz models, and complicated watches with very different dial layouts.

Designed by Gérald Genta and introduced in 1976, the original 3700 paired a broad, thin case with the automatic caliber 28-255 C and no seconds hand. The smaller 3800 brought central seconds; the later 3710 is recognizable by Roman numerals and its distinctive power-reserve display. With the 5711, introduced in 2006, the familiar horizontal dial grooves and date window returned in a larger format with central seconds and a sapphire caseback.

Beyond those straightforward displays, the Moonphase combines a moon-phase indication with pointer date and power reserve, while the Annual Calendar uses calendar windows above a moon-phase display. The Chronograph and Travel Time Chronograph bring pushers and busier displays to the case. Smaller 7118 models offer another visual cue: undulating dial decoration rather than the straight horizontal grooves associated with many larger Nautilus references.