During my February stay in
Geneva, I had the opportunity to try on a
5711 for the
first time.
Yes, for the first time because these watches are in
high demand and are
far from being my
priority.
It was ref. 5711/1A-014 with a green dial.
What struck me immediately were two things.
Firstly, its
remarkable slimness, with a
diameter of
40 mm and a
thickness of only
8.3 mm. Let me be
clear: these are
ideal proportions.
Second, the
absence of
screws on the
bezel and the very
smooth aesthetic of the case and dial.
Also, the subdued green dial was quite to my liking even if, I won't lie, while I was glad it wasn't blue (a color that I have personally ended up finding tiresome from being repeated so often) I think I would have liked it even more if it had been grey.

The steel
bracelet?
Nice, quite smooth too, but
less appealing than the case itself, especially since, personally, I don't really like these metal bracelets.
Comparing it with a ref.
3800/1P-001 convinced me that the ref. 5711 really has ideal proportions.

Even
leaving aside the
diamond indices, the ref.
3800/1P-001, with its diameter of
37.5 mm (but only
35 mm from 8 o'clock to 2 o'clock) and its thickness of
7.3 mm is
too small for my taste.
Compared to the
37 x
9.8 mm grey dial
Royal Oak ref.
15450ST.OO.1256ST.02...

... or to the
38 x
10 mm
grey dial
Girard-Perregaux Laureato ref. 81005-11-231-11A...

... or to the
white dial ref. 81005-11-131-11A...

... or to the
blue dial ref. 81005-11-3460-1CM...

... or to the
41 x
9.7 mm
Chopard L.U.C
Alpine Eagle 41
grey dial ref.
298600-3002 (which I
own)...
... I have to be honest: the 5711 is clearly a winner.
But it's not the kind of watch that excites me or gives me the chills.
So, even though I now understand what makes this model so legendary, I'm still quite happy to leave it to others.
Thanks for reading.
Best, Emmanuel