Short answer
A fake Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time is a counterfeit of the ref. 5164, and it is one of the more awkward Pateks to copy. The Travel Time complication, meaning a local-hour hand you jump forward and back with two pushers on the left case flank, plus the day/night windows, the date, and the 40.8mm case profile, all look simple in a photo and fall apart in the hand. If you are checking one, the pushers, the case thickness, the dial printing, and the movement are where it gives itself away.
What the real 5164 actually is
The Aquanaut Travel Time launched in 2011 as a steel watch with an integrated rubber strap, and it stayed in the catalog until 2024, when Patek moved the model to white gold as the 5164G. A rose gold 5164R ran alongside it for years.
- Case: 40.8mm, about 8.1mm thick, stainless steel on the 5164A
- Movement: caliber 324 S C FUS, automatic, two time zones plus day/night for each
- Controls: two pushers at 8 and 10 on the left case band, screw-down crown
- Water resistance: 120m
- Strap: Patek's composite rubber with the raised center ridge, plus a fold-over clasp
That pusher layout is the whole point of the watch. Press the upper one and the local hour hand jumps forward an hour, date included. Press the lower one and it steps back. Home time keeps running underneath it.
Where replicas give themselves away
Case and pushers
I look at the left flank first. On a real 5164 the pushers sit flush, sit square to the case band, and have a crisp, machined feel with a short travel. On fakes they often stick out a touch, sit crooked, or have mushy travel. Plenty of replicas only make one pusher do anything at all, and some make neither work, with the day/night windows frozen.
Thickness is the second tell. The genuine watch is thin for what it does. Replica cases commonly run a millimeter or two thicker, because the movement inside is not the movement that was designed for the case.
Dial and printing
The dial on the 5164 is a textured grid pattern with applied numerals and lume. On fakes the texture reads flatter, the numerals are slightly fatter, and the lume fill pools unevenly. The day/night windows are a favorite shortcut: on many replicas they are painted discs that never move instead of apertures tied to the movement.
Movement
A sapphire caseback means you can see everything. The real 324 S C FUS shows Geneva stripes, perlage on the plates, and a gold rotor with the Calatrava cross and engraving. Most fakes are built on a Miyota 9015 or a decorated Chinese automatic with a stamped plate stuck over it, so the finishing looks printed rather than cut. If the rotor whirs like a toy and the bridges have no depth, that is not a 324.
Strap and clasp
Patek's composite strap has a specific matte texture and a raised center section. Replica straps feel slick, smell like a tire, and go shiny at the bend within weeks. Clasp engraving on fakes is shallow and often misspaced.
What "1:1" and "clone movement" mean in ads
They mean very little. There is no true clone of the 324 S C FUS in the counterfeit market, so anything sold as a Travel Time with a super clone movement is running a module stacked on top of a common automatic. That stack is exactly why the pushers behave oddly and the case gets thick. Prices for these fakes land in the few hundred dollar range, which tells you what is inside.
US legal reality
Counterfeit watches are illegal to import and to traffic in the United States. Customs can seize shipments, and selling fakes exposes you to trademark liability under the Lanham Act with civil damages and, in repeat cases, criminal exposure. Patek will not service or authenticate a counterfeit, and no watchmaker with a Patek parts account will touch it.
Practical checks
- Work both pushers and watch the local hour hand and the date react together.
- Check that both day/night windows move on their own over 24 hours.
- Measure the case thickness with calipers.
- Compare dial texture and numeral shape against a known photo of a 5164A.
- Look at the movement through the caseback for real stripes and a gold rotor.
If any one of those fails, stop there. The Aquanaut Travel Time is a watch where the details carry the value, and the details are the hardest part to fake.