Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164

Patek Philippe released a new Aquanaut at Baselworld 2011, featuring dual time zones. The new Aquanaut Travel Time ref.5164 is just the perfect traveller’s watch!

Stylish, functional and extremely comfortable are the words that come to mind when putting the new Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time on the wrist. It’s a true dual time zone watch, telling not only home time and local time, but also date (attached to local time) and a day/night indicator.

Photo credits go to Robert-Jan from Fratellowatches, who accompanied me for the meeting with Patek Philippe and did the photography.

By pushing the pushers at the left side of the case, local time can be adjusted with steps of an hour in two directions. The date will follow the local time adjustment, also when this means jumping a day back in time. The day/night indicator tells you if it’s an appropriate time to call the office or family.

Patek Philippe launched the Aquanaut in 1997, more or less as a variation on the Nautilus. You can recognize the ‘port-hole’ shape of the Nautilus case. Gerald Genta was responsible for the design of the Nautilus and although some say the Aquanaut is also designed by Genta, other sources challenge this.

The first Aquanaut ref.506x was replaced by ref.516x in 2007 and featured a more subtle dial. The design of the rubber strap and steel bracelet was also changed, both becoming more subtle in my opinion. The new Aquanaut ref.5164 Travel Time features the same style elements on the dial and straps as the redesigned ref.516x series.

The stainless steel case measures 40.8mm (10-4 o’clock) and is water resistant to 120 meters. When the Aquanaut was released it was the first watch featuring a crystal see-through back and offering 120 meters of water resistance. The material used in the tropical rubber strap is a composite of various materials designed to resist saltwater immersion, UV deterioration and bacterial growth.

Patek used Sapphire crystal on both sides, so the movement can be admired. The new self-winding movement, calibre 324 S C FUS, has a diameter of 31mm and a height of 4.82mm. 29 Jewels make sure the parts move with a minimum of friction and the Gyromax balance vibrates at 4Hz. Calibre 324 S C FUS has 294 parts and offers 45 hours of power reserve.

The price is 30k CHF (before tax) and more information can be found at the Patek Philippe website and official Facebook page.