Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5168
Ref. 5168 is the current "Jumbo" Aquanaut sports watch from Patek Philippe and has been available since 2017.
History
Patek Philipe launched the Aquanaut range in 1997 as a lower-priced alternative to the existing Nautilus range. A true sports watch, the Aquanaut features a rugged three-part case and screw-down crown for 120 meter water resistance, the most of any watch with a sapphire caseback at that time. The original Ref. 5060/5066 Aquanaut was fairly small at 36 mm but a "Jumbo" Ref. 5065, with a 38 mm case, soon followed. This would become the main Aquanaut model for the next decade.
In 2007, Patek Philippe introduced Ref. 5167 at BaselWorld to replace the original "Jumbo" Aquanaut with a larger 40 mm case. It was improved over the original, with a contoured "tropical" rubber strap, improved clasp, new dial, and the new Cal. 324 S C. In 2017, Patek Philippe celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Aquanaut family with this even-larger "Jumbo" model, Ref. 5168. It features a 42.2 mm case but is otherwise similar to the more-common Ref. 5167.
The modern Aquanaut "Jumbo" Ref. 5168 is only available in white gold as Ref. 5168G. It comes with a blue rubber strap to match the blue embossed dial. Unlike the original Jumbo Ref. 5065, the new Jumbo places the date window in the dial in place of the numeral at 3:00. This is due to the relatively large case and compact movement, the small dimensions of which is also noticeable when looking through the display caseback. A khaki green dial Aquanaut Ref. 5168G was introduced in 2019.
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