The Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus is and always has been a unique combination of unbridled ambition and revolutionary design – the result oftruly original ‘outside the box’ thinking that perfectly encapsulates the Bowers & Wilkins brand philosophy.
To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of this iconic loudspeaker, Bowers and Wilkins has produced a unique pair in a dramatic Abalone Pearl finish.Pearl is, of course, the perfect color for a 30th Anniversary – and it’s all-the-more appropriate since it’s also the color of the internal shell of themarine mollusk that inspired the Nautilus name.
That Nautilus is still the most visually arresting speaker available, evensome 30 years after its introduction, is testimony to the remarkable, ground-breaking vision of both company founder John Bowers, who initiated theNautilus project shortly before he passed away, and the lead engineer whowould eventually deliver on that legacy, Laurence Dickie.
The idea behind Nautilus was simple, but immensely challenging: ‘makea loudspeaker that doesn’t sound like a loudspeaker’. Armed with an exceptionally wide brief, no time constraints and few limitations related top racticality or cost, the Nautilus emerged almost as a concept car made reality, a radical five-year project to explore how many of the negative effects of the loudspeaker enclosure could be eliminated by innovative design.
The result was a revolution in loudspeaker engineering that introducedthe concept of the exponentially tapered tube to loudspeaker design. TheNautilus tube would go on to win a Queen’s Award for Innovation and was just one of many breakthroughs developed for the Nautilus project that would subsequently influence all of the company’s future product design. Alongside the equally remarkable Bowers & Wilkins 801, the choice of music industry professionals the world over,
30 years later, Nautilus is still built the same way. Ironically for acompany that has taken the manufacturing of audiophile speakers to newindustry standards of automated precision, building a pair Nautilus is apainstaking hand-built process. Simply building one speaker enclosuretakes over a week – and that’s before any notions of sanding, painting orpolishing each cabinet are involved. Small wonder that demand forNautilus has consistently outstripped supply throughout its 30-year existence, with the waiting list for a new model currently standing at two years.
Nothing in audio looks or sounds like Nautilus, which remains an icon ofradical thinking and revolutionary design to this day. The Abalone Pearlfinish of the 30th Anniversary pair is a stunning celebration of one of the most legendary loudspeakers ever created.
Commenting on the 30th Anniversary, Dave Sheen, Brand President of Bowers & Wilkins said:
“While Bowers & Wilkins is committed to advancing the future of high-performance audio across all of our product portfolio, Nautilus remains ofthe highest importance to all of us. It readily communicates everythingthat is exceptional about Bowers & Wilkins and our no-holds-barredapproach to creating the world’s best-sounding, most beautifully designed audio products.”
Nautilus is available in three standard colors: Midnight Blue Metallic, Silver and Black. Bowers & Wilkins also offers a custom-finish servicethat will match the product’s color to any reference the customer chooses at an extra cost.
Design Meets Art at Bowers & Wilkins
Bowers & Wilkins has long operated at the intersection of engineering, design, and culture. Known primarily for its high-performance loudspeakers, the company’s products are often recognized not just for how they sound, but how they look. The design philosophy at Bowers & Wilkins has, over the decades, elevated its loudspeakers beyond the realm of electronics and into objects that many consider industrial art.
One of the most notable figures in shaping that aesthetic and acoustic identity is Laurence Dickie, a former Bowers & Wilkins engineer whose contributions to the brand’s flagship speaker designs in the 1980s and 1990s helped define the company’s direction. Dickie was responsible for developing the Nautilus speaker, an iconic design that is as much a technical statement as it is a visual one. The Nautilus was conceived as an exercise in eliminating internal resonances and unwanted sound reflections. Its unmistakable tapered tube enclosures and curved, marine-like form were not arbitrary stylistic choices but direct outcomes of acoustic engineering goals.
The Nautilus was introduced in 1993 after years of research and development. Each of its four drivers—bass, midrange, upper midrange, and tweeter—is housed in a separate, organically-shaped chamber. The tubes behind each driver absorb unwanted rear energy, preventing it from reflecting back into the diaphragm. The result is exceptionally low coloration and phase coherence across frequencies. But beyond the technical achievement, the visual impact of the Nautilus has made it one of the few loudspeakers to be displayed in art museums, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There, it stands not only as a functional object but as a sculptural statement on the possibilities of industrial design.
The presence of a loudspeaker in a museum context points to a core aspect of the Bowers & Wilkins brand identity: sound reproduction as an artistic pursuit. This perspective was cultivated not just through engineering innovation but through strategic leadership and careful brand positioning. Joe Atkins, who acquired Bowers & Wilkins in 1993, played a significant role in reinforcing this identity. Under his ownership, the company maintained its research focus through the Steyning Research Establishment, where engineers worked on both speaker design and materials science.
Atkins ensured that Bowers & Wilkins products retained their British design language while also expanding the company’s global footprint. During his tenure, the brand established itself not only in the consumer hi-fi space but also in professional and automotive markets. Yet, the core design elements remained consistent: minimalistic form, quality materials, and a design language that emphasized both function and aesthetic harmony.
Much of the brand’s success in design has also been linked to its use of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques. Bowers & Wilkins has frequently embraced new materials—Kevlar for midrange drivers, diamond for tweeters, and more recently Continuum cone materials. These choices were made based on their acoustic properties but also shaped the visual profile of the speakers themselves. For example, the yellow Kevlar drivers became a visual signature of the brand for many years, instantly recognizable even from across a room.
The company’s more recent speaker lines, such as the 800 Series Diamond, carry forward many of the design cues and engineering concepts first introduced with the Nautilus. These include the separate turbine head for midrange drivers and the use of solid aluminum tweeter housings to eliminate resonance. The overall form factor of the 800 Series is modern but still grounded in the engineering-first approach that defines the company’s design process.
Despite its expansion into headphones, automotive sound systems, and wireless streaming products, Bowers & Wilkins has kept design integrity at the forefront. This consistency has allowed the company’s products to be featured in high-design environments, from minimalist homes to architectural showpieces. It has also made them a common fixture in luxury showrooms and art installations.
The relationship between design and sound in Bowers & Wilkins products is not superficial. Rather than treating design as an afterthought, the company has long treated visual and acoustic engineering as two halves of a single process. Enclosure shape, material selection, and component placement are all approached from both an aesthetic and performance perspective.
This dual emphasis has helped Bowers & Wilkins maintain its reputation not only as a manufacturer of high-fidelity equipment but as a company operating with a broader cultural awareness. Its ability to merge form and function has allowed it to stand apart in an industry often dominated by purely technical performance metrics. The inclusion of its products in museum collections, high-profile architectural spaces, and global collaborations with luxury brands like BMW and McLaren further underscores its positioning as more than just a speaker company.
In essence, Bowers & Wilkins has built a brand that views audio equipment as a discipline that bridges science and art. The influence of figures like Laurence Dickie, the long-term leadership of Joe Atkins, and the visual legacy of speakers like the Nautilus all point to a consistent philosophy: that sound, like art, can be engineered—but should also be experienced.
