Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Thierry Stern spotted wearing Patek Philippe

When the president of Patek Philippe dines out, what ends up on his wrist tells you more about the manufacture's internal hierarchy than any press release. Thierry Stern was recently photographed at Nusret Gökçe's restaurant wearing a Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time ref. 5164 — a telling choice that rewards closer inspection.

The Aquanaut Travel Time ref. 5164 was introduced in 2011 as a sportier sibling to the dress-oriented World Time ref. 5130. It measures 40.8 mm in stainless steel, with Patek's signature embossed rubber strap and the Aquanaut's characteristic rounded octagonal bezel. The movement inside is Caliber 324 S C FUS, a self-winding manufacture ebauche with 45 hours of power reserve. The travel-time complication is elegantly practical: two correctors on the left flank of the case advance or retard only the local hour hand in instantaneous jumps, leaving the running seconds and the home-time display undisturbed. A day/night indicator for both time zones completes the layout. Legibility is excellent, and the whole mechanism operates without interrupting the movement's running state.

Among collectors, the ref. 5164 occupies a nuanced position. It lacks the cult status of the Nautilus ref. 5711 but is consistently praised as one of the most genuinely functional Patek Philippe sports watches — a piece designed for actual travel rather than for display. The reference was discontinued in its original form and updated to the ref. 5164A and subsequently to the ref. 5164R in rose gold, which sharpened collector interest considerably. A stainless steel example carries particular appeal for purists.

The context of the sighting adds a layer of interest. Nusret Gökçe — better known as Salt Bae — is a documented Patek Philippe collector, here photographed in a heavily set Nautilus ref. 3800/108 in white gold with diamonds and sapphires, a flamboyant piece from the late 1990s that represents the polar opposite of Stern's understated choice. That the brand's president opts for a clean steel sports complication over anything more ostentatious is consistent with the Stern family's long-standing, publicly stated preference for wearability over spectacle.

On the secondary market, the Aquanaut Travel Time ref. 5164A in stainless steel trades firmly above retail, reflecting sustained demand for functional Patek complications in sport cases. The rose-gold ref. 5164R commands a further premium. Either way, Thierry Stern's wrist choice doubles as quiet brand communication — the Aquanaut Travel Time is not a compromise watch; it is a considered one.