Watch Paparazzi

Royal Hassanal Bolkiah spotted wearing Patek Philippe

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, one of the wealthiest monarchs on the planet and a collector whose watch holdings are estimated to run into the tens of thousands of pieces, was recently photographed wearing the Patek Philippe Aquanaut reference 5168G — a choice that, even by his extraordinary standards, rewards a closer look.

The Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5168G was introduced at Baselworld 2018 as a 40th-anniversary tribute to the original Aquanaut concept, stretching the case to 42.2mm in 18K white gold and pairing it with a khaki green embossed dial and a matching composite rubber strap. The reference houses Caliber 324 S C, a self-winding movement with a 45-hour power reserve, offering 3Hz beat rate and Gyromax balance. Water resistance is rated to 120 metres — functional, if clearly not the point for most buyers.

Within the Aquanaut family, the 5168G occupies a specific cultural position. It arrived as Patek was asserting that the sports bracket was no longer a concession to casual wear but a deliberate design statement. The khaki green dial, unusual in the Geneva maison's vocabulary at the time, presaged the broader industry pivot toward green-dialed references by several years. Collectors recognized this early, and grey-market premiums climbed steeply almost from the moment the reference launched.

Hassanal Bolkiah's relationship with fine watchmaking is well documented. The Sultan has commissioned bespoke pieces from Geneva's most exclusive ateliers and is among the few private collectors believed to own watches that have never appeared on any public record. Seeing him reach for a production reference like the 5168G is, in its own way, a signal — even the most prolific collectors return to the canonical pieces.

The Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5168G carries an official list price of approximately $43,500, but the grey market tells a sharply different story. Current secondary valuations sit around $125,000 — roughly three times retail — reflecting both constrained supply and sustained demand for white gold Aquanaut references with desirable dial colors. For a watch this visible on a wrist this prominent, that premium is unlikely to soften soon.