Autumn Leaves – Inside Artisans de Genève’s Skeletonized Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164

For a seasoned traveler, a watch can become more than an instrument for measuring time. It records departures, changing time zones and the quiet moments that remain long after a journey has ended.

The Artisans de Genève “Autumn Leaves” project was commissioned by a collector identified as Mr. L.V., who had worn his Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time Reference 5164 throughout a lifetime of international travel. As he entered a new chapter, the steel Aquanaut was transformed into a mechanical tribute to those experiences.

At the center of the project is the workshop’s first skeletonization of the dual-time calibre used inside the Aquanaut Travel Time 5164. The movement was opened, refinished in anthracite and accented with rose-gold components, while its local-time, home-time and date functions were preserved. A transparent sapphire dial and a Rubber B Ebony Brown strap complete the autumn-inspired composition.

This project should not be confused with Artisans de Genève’s earlier Caumasee Aquanaut 5167A or the rose-gold Maggiore Daytona. Although all three draw from landscapes and autumnal colors, Autumn Leaves is the only one based on the complicated Aquanaut Travel Time 5164.

Artisans de Genève Autumn Leaves: Quick Facts

Specification	Autumn Leaves configuration
Base watch	Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time Reference 5164
Original case architecture	40.8mm Aquanaut Travel Time in stainless steel
Personalized case	Refined steel case with chamfered lugs and polished and brushed surfaces
Original movement	Calibre 324 S C FUS, self-winding Travel Time
Personalized movement	AG-324, skeletonized and finished in anthracite with rose-gold wheels
Functions retained	Local time, home time, day/night indications, date linked to local time and sweep seconds
Dial	Brown base with transparent sapphire upper plate
Hands	Rose-gold hands with SLN GL C1 luminescent treatment
Rotor	Skeletonized yellow-gold rotor with circular brushing
Balance bridge	Steel signature bridge, hand-angled and polished
Strap	Rubber B Ebony Brown strap
Personalization fee	CHF 64,520 excluding VAT
Donor watch included	No—the client supplies the original watch
Published water resistance	Not stated on the official Autumn Leaves project page

Artisans de Genève states that the CHF 64,520 figure applies to the personalization service and excludes VAT. The client’s watch is not included, and the final price may vary according to the requested work.

The Story Behind Autumn Leaves

The Aquanaut Travel Time was created for movement between countries and continents. Its complication allows a traveler to retain a permanent indication of home time while adjusting the local hour independently when arriving in another time zone.

That practical connection to travel gave Mr. L.V.’s watch a deeply personal significance. According to Artisans de Genève, the Aquanaut accompanied him from one destination to another, becoming a reminder of waking in unfamiliar places and adjusting to a different local time.

Autumn Leaves represents the collector’s transition from a life defined by continuous travel into a period of reflection. The design does not attempt to reproduce a single destination. Instead, its rose-gold, anthracite and deep-brown palette recalls changing landscapes, accumulated memories and the warmth associated with the final months of the year.

The result is not simply an openworked Aquanaut. It is a visual interpretation of time already traveled.

Why Skeletonizing a Dual-Time Calibre Is Different

Skeletonization is often described as the process of removing material from a mechanical movement. That definition, however, understates the difficulty of the work.

Every bridge and plate contributes to the movement’s stability. Removing too much material can reduce rigidity, disturb the alignment of the gear train or compromise the precise tolerances required by the regulating system. The watchmaker must reveal the architecture without weakening the structure that supports it.

The challenge becomes more demanding when the movement controls a complication.

How the Aquanaut Travel Time Works

The original Patek Philippe calibre 324 S C FUS simultaneously displays local time and home time. A solid central hour hand indicates local time, while a skeletonized hand remains connected to home time. Separate day-and-night indicators help distinguish morning from evening in each location.

The date display is also coupled to local time. When the local hour passes midnight, the date changes according to the destination rather than the wearer’s home location. Pushers integrated into the left side of the case allow the local hour to advance or retreat in one-hour increments without interrupting normal timekeeping.

This is not the same as placing two independent movements inside one case. Instead, the Travel Time complication layers additional wheels, indications, correction mechanisms and calendar relationships onto the movement’s core timekeeping architecture.

Skeletonizing it therefore requires the workshop to account for considerably more than the conventional hour, minute and seconds display of a three-hand calibre.

Preserving the Travel Time Functions

For Autumn Leaves, Artisans de Genève retained the original complication while opening the movement to view. The resulting AG-324 calibre is finished in anthracite, creating a darker architectural base for the rose-gold wheels and hands.

The openworking must accommodate:

• The local and home hour displays
• The local-time correction system
• Both day/night indications
• The date mechanism linked to local time
• The automatic winding system
• The balance and regulating components

The objective is not merely to make the mechanism visible. Every indication must remain legible and every functional relationship must continue operating as intended.

Artisans de Genève describes Autumn Leaves as its first skeletonization of a dual-time Aquanaut 5164 calibre. This distinction is important. The earlier Caumasee project also featured a skeletonized calibre 324, but it was based on the time-and-date Aquanaut 5167A rather than the more complicated Travel Time 5164.

The Transparent Sapphire Dial

A traditional dial conceals most of the movement beneath it. For Autumn Leaves, that barrier has been replaced by a layered construction consisting of a brown base and a transparent sapphire upper plate.

Sapphire provides a clear view into the movement while maintaining a refined surface on which the indications can be organized. This is particularly important on the Aquanaut Travel Time, where legibility must be preserved across two hour hands, multiple day/night indicators and the pointer date display.

The transparency also creates visual depth. The hands and indications appear to float above the anthracite movement, while rose-gold wheels emerge beneath the dial as the viewing angle changes.

Unlike a completely absent dial, the sapphire plate provides enough structure to maintain the watch’s identity as a finished timepiece rather than presenting the movement as an exposed technical exercise.

Rose-Gold Hands and SLN GL C1 Luminescence

The hands were reworked in rose gold to provide warmth against the darker movement finish. This treatment connects the visible components of the calibre with the project’s autumn theme while separating the time indications from the anthracite background.

Artisans de Genève also applied SLN GL C1 luminescent material to the hands. The pale luminous treatment helps preserve low-light readability—an essential consideration when skeletonization introduces additional visual complexity beneath the display.

The contrast serves both aesthetic and functional purposes. Rose gold defines the hands in daylight, while the luminescent treatment maintains their visibility after dark.

A Skeletonized Yellow-Gold Rotor

The transformation continues through the sapphire case back.

The automatic winding rotor was reconstructed in yellow gold, skeletonized and finished with circular brushing. Opening the rotor allows a greater portion of the movement to remain visible while the watch is being handled.

Circular brushing creates a controlled reflection that distinguishes the rotor from the darker anthracite components below it. Its yellow-gold tone also introduces a subtle variation from the rose-gold details visible through the front of the watch.

The personalization is completed by a steel signature balance bridge that has been hand-angled and polished. This component frames one of the most active parts of the movement while demonstrating the hand-finishing that defines the project.

Refined Steel Case and Chamfered Lugs

The original Reference 5164A was constructed around the rounded-octagonal geometry that defines the Aquanaut collection. Its steel surfaces combined polishing and satin brushing, reinforcing the model’s position between a traditional complicated watch and a modern luxury sports watch.

For Autumn Leaves, the steel case was refined with chamfered lugs and renewed polished and brushed finishes. Artisans de Genève does not state that the fundamental dimensions were changed, so the project should still be understood through the approximately 40.8mm architecture of the original Aquanaut Travel Time.

The restrained treatment is important. A fully skeletonized dial and movement already introduce considerable visual detail. Retaining the steel case prevents the composition from becoming excessively ornate and allows the brown and rose-gold elements to remain the principal sources of warmth.

The Rubber B Ebony Brown Strap

The strap is central to the identity of Autumn Leaves.

Artisans de Genève replaced the original black strap with a deep Ebony Brown strap produced by Rubber B. According to the workshop, the color was selected to recall landscapes encountered during the collector’s travels.

Ebony Brown performs several functions within the design. It softens the transition between the steel case and the rose-gold movement details, reinforces the autumn palette and provides a visual foundation for the transparent dial.

The color also allows the watch to retain the sport-oriented character of the Aquanaut. A conventional brown leather strap could have shifted the project toward the appearance of a formal dress watch. Vulcanized rubber preserves the Aquanaut’s contemporary identity while introducing a richer and more personal color.

Rubber B produces a dedicated vulcanized rubber strap engineered specifically for the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164 case and its original deployant buckle. The strap is not a universal Aquanaut component and is not intended for other references with different case or clasp constructions. It is manufactured in Switzerland from pure vulcanized rubber without coatings, blends or bonded layers.

Discover Swiss-Rubber B straps engineered for the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164.

Color availability should be confirmed on the product page, as the exact Ebony Brown specification used for the Artisans de Genève project may represent a special project configuration.

Is the 30-Meter Water-Resistance Rating a Downgrade?

Water resistance requires careful distinction between the original watch, Patek Philippe’s current published standard and the individual customized timepiece.

The Aquanaut generation to which the steel 5164A belongs was historically associated with a 120-meter rating. Patek Philippe’s 2021 Aquanaut documentation described most models within the collection as water-resistant to 120 meters.

In 2024, however, Patek Philippe introduced a unified 30-meter water-resistance standard for watches certified as water-resistant. Current Aquanaut models, including the Reference 5164G Travel Time, are consequently published with a 30-meter rating. Patek has explained that this rating follows testing in air and underwater at an overpressure of three bars.

For that reason, the appearance of a 30-meter figure in discussions surrounding Autumn Leaves should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that skeletonization reduced the watch from 120 meters.

There is another important limitation: the official Autumn Leaves page does not publish a post-personalization pressure-test result or water-resistance specification. The definitive rating for this individual watch should therefore come from the written testing documentation supplied by Artisans de Genève.

A personalized mechanical watch should never be exposed to water based solely on the historical rating of its donor reference.

How Much Does Artisans de Genève Autumn Leaves Cost?

Artisans de Genève lists the Autumn Leaves personalization service at CHF 64,520 excluding VAT.

That fee does not include the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164. The client must already own and supply the watch. Artisans de Genève also states that the final price may change depending on the nature and complexity of the requested modifications.

The cost covers an extensive program of movement skeletonization, component refinishing, dial construction, case refinishing, hand modification, rotor fabrication and final assembly. It should not be interpreted as the retail price of a completed Autumn Leaves watch.

Artisans de Genève operates as an independent personalization workshop. It does not manufacture or sell Patek Philippe watches and is not affiliated with or authorized by Patek Philippe. The modifications are performed independently at the request of the watch’s owner.

A Travel Watch Transformed Into a Record of Travel

The most successful personalized watches retain the identity of the original reference while revealing something specific about their owner.

Autumn Leaves remains recognizable as an Aquanaut Travel Time. Its rounded-octagonal steel case, dual central hour display, integrated rubber strap and practical travel complication are all preserved. Yet the transparent dial, skeletonized AG-324 movement, rose-gold details and Ebony Brown Rubber B strap give the watch an entirely different emotional character.

The project is not defined by novelty alone. Its significance comes from the relationship between the complication and the collector’s story. A movement designed to cross time zones has been opened to commemorate a lifetime spent doing precisely that.

For collectors seeking a model-specific alternative for the original Aquanaut configuration, Rubber B manufactures Swiss-Made vulcanized rubber straps calibrated for the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164 case and original deployant clasp.

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