Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5065A: A Look Back at the '90s Sport-Luxury Trailblazer

The post-Quartz Crisis era delivered one of the most innovative periods in the history of watch design, which helped set the stage for the long-term health of the industry. It was marked by high-character, and often high-risk design language that represented the potential to set the foundations for brands to build upon. Many of the designs of this era are overlooked today, and while some can be polarizing, these watches present a deeper level of creative freedom than we see being expressed today, and for that, many enthusiasts are returning to this era to discover a broad landscape of interesting and strangely compelling watches — even from brands as seemingly buttoned up as Patek Philippe. Before getting into Patek's Aquanaut 5065a, let's take a look at a little bit of context to put this sport watch in perspective.

Patek Philippe is a brand that embraced quartz technology in its own way, without letting it compromise its considerable heritage as a mechanical-first manufacturer. In fact, coming into 1990, Patek Philippe had just celebrated its 150th anniversary with the wonderfully complicated Caliber 89 pocket watch (above). For many brands, the ‘90s was a decade that represented a transition period, and for Patek Philippe, that transition was focused on translating its classic design language into modern forms within new and existing collections. As a result, not everything would land well enough to merit survival, but some of the ideas expressed during the era would open new doors for development. That’s exactly what we find in the Aquanaut collection.

To understand the Aquanaut, it might first be beneficial to take a step back and look at the Nautilus. In 1976, Patek Philippe introduced a chic sport collection called Nautilus, launching it with the Reference 3700. The watch featured an integrated bracelet and an ultra-thin case designed by none other than Gérald Genta, who had designed the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet several years before. While it was immediately intriguing, its large size forced the brand to adapt the design with new, smaller references to find its audience, which it would eventually do via a broad range of sizes and materials. The Nautilus collection welcomed quartz movements in the 80s, and became one of the more adaptable designs from the brand, which it remains today.

By the mid ‘90s, as Patek looked to expand its stable of sport watches built on Genta’s original 1976 design, the Reference 5060S would appear in the Nautilus collection, a watch that moved to a strap with a more traditional set of lugs set within the familiar porthole case. This is largely seen as the first iteration of what would become the Aquanaut. In 1997, Patek introduced the same reference, but in steel, the 5060A, and while it was still presented alongside the Nautilus collection, it would be the first to bear the Aquanaut name. 

Photo: Bonhams

The 5060A (the A stands for acier, the French word for steel) was a different beast entirely, and represented an original Patek Philippe design within the framework of the now well-established sport-luxury watch genre. The watch leaned into a brick-like pattern that was present on the dial, and the rubber strap that was cut to fit. The pattern earned the nickname “grenade” for its deep-cut square nature, representing a rather aggressive departure from the demure nature of the Nautilus; the 5060S in particular, which used leaf hands, Roman numerals, and a crocodile leather strap. 

The steel Aquanaut from 1997 was a line in the sand, and while Patek did eventually soften some of the more aggressive details of the design, the maison has since come back to embrace them in their own way with references like the modern 5296R. This is a design that would spawn its own collection of references through a decade-long production run prior to the introduction of the 5167 in 2007, and within that window we find what may be the most compelling Aquanaut for fans of the neo-vintage design language, and that is the 5065A. 

Photo: Christie's

A year after the formal launch of the Aquanaut, Patek Philippe released the References 5065 and 5066, which brought a series of refinements to the watch, including an open caseback providing a view of the automatic Caliber 330 SC or 315 SC. While the 5066 (above) retained the original 36mm dimensions of the 5060, the 5065 represented a “jumbo” iteration sized at 38mm, making it far more palatable to modern size trends. These watches would also make the jump from tritium to Super-LumiNova as their dial illumination shortly after the turn of the century, making them a part of the final representations of this highly desired lume from Patek Philippe. 

Photo: Sotheby's

The original Aquanaut design language was bold and unapologetic, unusual qualities when it comes to Patek Philippe, and it remains exactly as distinctive today as it was in the ‘90s. It’s a Patek Philippe for those who aren’t really into Patek Philippe. In 1997, the watch launched alongside other neo-vintage icons such as the Sinn EZM1 and Zenith Rainbow Flyback, which provides a sensible context to the taste of the era. I love thinking about the Aquanaut alongside those designs, as they all bring a level of personality from their respective brands that we simply do not see today.

Photo: Wind Vintage

The Aquanaut Reference 5065a is the pinnacle of nineties exuberance from the least expected of sources. It wears beautifully thanks to its size (the case is barely 8mm in thickness) and the tropic strap (or steel bracelet) that it shipped with, and the dial exudes a sense of defiance while retaining a strong sense of legibility. It’s honestly a great watch to think about in the context of a modern GADA archetype, though its price point places it well outside the usual suspects we might otherwise think of in that genre. 

With the introduction of the 5167, the Aquanaut design was refined to soften some of the hard edges and, no doubt, to appeal to a much broader audience as a result. It also lost a good bit of that hard-earned character in the process. The Aquanaut was a wholly original Patek Philippe design that stepped out of the Gérald Genta shadow, and it deserves a place in history as a result. It is interesting to see the brand return to the original design in unexpected ways, and with the 30th anniversary of the collection nearly upon us, perhaps we’ll see a proper steel Aquanaut with the original dial make its way back to the collection as a celebration. Here’s hoping. You can learn more about the contemporary Aquanaut collection over at patek.com