The Patek Philippe Aquanaut is part of the exceptional legacy of timepieces that were brought to the forefront of watch collecting by the genius watchmaker Gérald Genta. However, the Aquanaut takes liberties in the way that traditional Nautilus brand of Patek timepieces could never try. The Aquanaut is just as sporty as his older brother but has much more aggressive style, color palette and a rubberized watch band that doubles down on the color palette expressed on the dial.
The Aquanaut isn’t hampered by the situation in the 1970’s where the quartz crisis required watchmakers to redefine the timepiece as a luxury item. The Nautilus did that with grace and style. However, the Aquanaut was designed in the 1990’s, when timepiece collecting was already in high gear. Patek Philippe had to design something new and fresh, and perhaps something that appealed to a younger audience.
The result is clearly an offshoot of the Nautilus but with significant design changes. The case itself became a more rounded porthole design. The embossed dial was shaped like a military grenade and appears to almost explode as you look at it. The date window is not fettered by a cyclops lens and it peeps through the dial at the 3 o’clock position without much fanfare. Date is a function but is satisfied sitting in the background as it almost meshes in with the powerful tritium luminescent hour markers and large hour and minute hands.
Probably the biggest feature that Patek Philippe adopted for the first time in the Aquanaut is the new Tropical strap which is made from composite material and is both ultra-resistant to general wear and also to the elements like salt water and UV radiation. This strap matches the coloring of the dial almost exactly and carries forth the grenade style embossed pattern throughout the band. In the example above we can see the exceptional blue band which extends the blue dial color pattern around the wrist.
Patek Philippe Aquanaut – Color Versatility
As you can see in the picture above that the Patek Philippe Aquanaut can adopt many versatile colors in its palette. The blue, white and green models are clearly different from that of the Nautilus which is still considered a sporty timepiece. The Aquanaut has a chocolate brown strap and matching brown dial option and a feminine “pearly beige” model which has a pale purplish hue to it. They also have one model that sports a metal steel band. In the past it has even sported a bright orange timepiece, although it isn’t offered today.
Patek Philippe has made the Aquanaut more casual primarily with the help of the comfort fitting band which has its patented fold-over clasp. However the case plays an important role. Most of the Aquanaut offerings are made with stainless steel or a matching white gold. They do offer also a Rose Gold option but no yellow gold timepieces currently, although yellow gold Aquanauts have been made over the last 20+ years.
Patek Philippe Aquanaut History
The Aquanaut was initially inspired by a wealthy and influential collector who asked for a more “rugged” timepiece from Patek Philippe. He wanted to gift these timepieces to top military officers. Patek Philippe didn’t feel that the existing Nautilus had the ability to satisfy the needs of this client and so they set out to design something entirely new.
In 1997 the Aquanaut was released to a hungry clientele obsessed with sports-watch collecting. It is unclear whether the “influential collector” was satisfied with the outcome of the newly designed Aquanaut, but the public clearly was, and it became a real hit just as the Dot Com Boom was hitting its highest point.
In 2007 the Aquanaut was updated with some small changes. The hour marker at the 3 o’clock position was removed to give more space to the date aperture. Also, the grenade shape grooves on the dial were lessened so it became a more subtle look.
In 2011 Patek started to add high level complications into the Aquanaut. The first one to be releast was the Aquanaut Travel Time. It included a skeletonized hand that could give the viewer a 2nd time zone.
In 2021 the 5968G was launched as a Flyback chronograph. It has pushers at the standard 2 and 4 o’clock positions and even features a beautiful visible case back featuring the self-winding Caliber CH 28‑520 C. This caliber powers the central chronograph hand, a 60 minute counter and the date in the aperture window, besides its basic hour, minute and seconds hands.
The new caliber is made from 308 parts, 32 jewels and has a Gyromax Balance, a Spiromax Balance Spring and a 55 hour power reserve. The winding rotor is made from 21k gold.
Rubber B is one of the only watch strap makers that make custom watch straps for the Aquanaut timepiece. These straps offer 8 color options to add flair with exceptional sporty appeal and strength to the timepiece. These straps are engineered to fit the Patek Philippe Aquanaut and its unique style case. For more information visit our page here.
