Patek Philippe launched the reference 5980 chronograph in 2006 as part of a celebratory line-up of watches that included the Ref. 5711 and 5712 to mark the 30th anniversary of its first luxury sports watch, the Nautilus.

This was no run-of-the-mill chronograph – the timepiece has a now-famous “bull’s eye” dial featuring concentric chronograph sub-dials that carried the 12-hour register as well as the 60-minute register. The early models were available in steel and gold versions and were powered by Patek Philippe's entirely in-house made chronograph calibre 28-520 C.

The present example, from 2008, features the Hallmark of Geneva seal that was present on all Patek Philippe models prior to 2009.