It’s been less than a month since Patek Philippe launched the Cubitus collection, and an example of the controversial timepiece has already landed on the secondary market. Even though the new collection has received a lot of criticism from Patek fans and watch connoisseurs, as well as thoroughly bashed on the internet, the watch sold for $112,500 in a digital auction. The timepiece sold on Bezel, an authenticated marketplace for pre-owned luxury watches, is a two-tone Ref. 5821/1AR, which has a retail price of $61,276. That means the first known Cubitus to be resold fetched almost double its sticker price.
“The Cubitus is such an exciting, albeit polarizing, new addition to Patek’s lineup,” co-founder and CEO of Bezel, Quaid Walker, told Robb Report. “Our goal is to always offer the most topical and desirable watches to the Bezel community, so it’s affirming to sell one of the first examples at auction.” There were 37 bidders for the watch. According to Bezel, the winning bid was made by a client from the US. A few other examples of the Cubitus have been listed on Chrono24, but none of them are authenticated.
The auction is a major relief for Patek Philippe’s president, Thierry Stern, even though the company is well known for aggressively protecting its products from flippers. NBA legend Michael Jordan was also recently spotted wearing a Cubitus, which is being seen as a major validation of the first new Patek collection in 25 years. The company’s leader has dismissed all negative reactions towards the new Cubitus collection, claiming social media critics as haters who have never owned a Patek watch and never will. A scathing article by the prominent horology magazine ABlogtoWatch has questioned Stern’s response to the critics and how he has dealt with the situation. Only time will tell if Stern was right in his strategy or not.
