⌚Patek's BIG Flop!

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Patek Philippe Break Ground (And Minds) With The Cubitus

It’s finally happened - Patek Philippe has released an all-new 3-piece collection of (edgy) sports timepieces and the watch world is, for better or worse, buzzing. It’s been years since we've seen anything new in the realm of sports watches from Patek, and as such, there was a palpable hunger among collectors for something fresh. Something new. However, as anyone who’s seen The Dark Knight as often as me will know, sometimes you don’t get the hero you need but the hero you deserve and unfortunately, this applies to the Cubitus.

In terms of dimensions, this collection hardly meets contemporary desires for smaller, more unassuming case sizes and indeed, at 45mm across, the square build feels unnecessarily large. One wonders what if it wouldn’t look better without the ‘wings’, which add at least 5mm in total to the side-to-side measurement. 

The movements are, of course, fantastic. The 26-330 SC is an automatic movement that runs at 28,800 vibrations/hour and includes tasty bits of engineering such as a Gyromax balance and Spiromax hairspring all while boasting 35-45 hours of power reserve. The 240 PS CI J LU (don’t ask me to explain those initials) powers the more complex Instantaneous Grand Date with a moonphase and instantaneous week and day functionality.

These are impressive watches at face value but I wonder where the incentive to buy one would come from other than just to say you own the new Patek. Value will surely rise over time, so they make sense from an investment perspective but honestly (don’t hate me for this), I’d rather buy Maen’s Manhattan, which was around well before the Cubitus and bears far more palatable dimensions. Call me crazy but this feels like more of a miss than a hit from Patek…

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Seiko Returns The Presage Range To Its Former Glory

For those who appreciate the ‘beauty-between-the-lines’ element of Japanese design, the new Presage Classic series from Seiko will be an absolute joy to behold. For fans of the Presage line in general, who’ve watched cheap and uninspiring versions come out in a conveyor-belt-like fashion over recent years, this collection will be especially sweet.

There’s nothing fancy going on here, if you exclude the open-heart models (which I would advise) and if you consider the fact that the Presage should be a simple, wear-anywhere timepiece that exudes a sense of class, models like the SPB463 and SPB467 hit the bullseye with aplomb.

The 3-day automatic movement (with self-winding) is as easygoing on newbies as it is refreshing for seasoned collectors and as far as dimensions go, there’s little to dislike, with a 40.5mm case diameter and 13mm thickness (mostly thanks to the dual-curved crystal).

More than anything, these are functional watches that don’t sacrifice style for affordability and that’s likely the most attractive thing about the Presage Classic range. A deployment clasp, anti-reflective finishing, and an inimitable granular colored finish on the dials push the new Presages into practical and comfortably cool territory, making them an absolute win for under $1000.

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Watch Fact

Also referred to as a yacht timer, these watches are specifically designed for sailing races and thus, feature a 10-minute countdown to be used at the start of a race. Some models exhibit a color scheme to differentiate between the starter countdown and the final five-minute countdown. They’re more than just pretty marine editions, after all!

3-Watch Collection

3 Watch Collection: Auction Edition

With asymmetrical watch cases coming back into fashion in a major way, it seems only practical to consider what a complementary trifecta of offset timepieces might look like…

Richard Mille RM 70-01 ‘Alain Prost' (Sport watch) - Given that Mille has a well-curated retinue of athletic ambassadors, including this piece’s namesake (a legend in Formula 1),  it would be crazy not to nominate this wonky tonneau-shaped watch here. Over and above the complex movement and usual shock resistance, the 70-01 includes a totaliser, which displays distance much like an old car mileage meter. It’s as expensive as you’d expect, at $750,000 on the aftermarket.

Cartier Cloche (Dress watch) - Some watches are about engineering, others are about design, and a rare few are about conversation. Cartier’s Cloche, a sideways bell-shaped masterpiece is one of the latter, with a case so bold and a layout so disruptively brilliant, that it can’t help but force conversation, both with its owner and everyone around it. On a leather strap and with the company’s signature bejewelled crown, this future icon will cost you about $40,000.

Berneron Mirage (Everyday watch) - Yes, this is the second time that the Mirage has been featured here this year but with its alluringly organic case shape and slim profile, as well as its many other gifts, repetition simply can’t be helped. This Berneron is a game changer in how it ever-so-slightly defies the circle and in doing so, increases the performance of its one-of-a-kind movement. This is as beautiful as they come and it’ll run you $50,000.

Total Collection Cost (USD): $840,000

Watch News Bites

Quick Bites

• F.P. Journe made history during a winter auction in Geneva after selling the second watch they ever made for a mind-warping $8.3 million, the highest price garnered by an independent watchmaker in history.
  
  

• In all its Neo-futurist glory, Girard Pirregaux’s Casquette 2.0 has been announced in gold and titanium to considerable fanfare. At $4,960 this statement piece will fly off of proverbial shelves.

  
  

• Obviously, the most important aspect of the recent U.S. presidential election is how it will affect the watch market. Suggested tariffs on imported goods could make Swiss watches a whole lot more expensive…

  
  

• The most recent iteration of Breguet’s Marine Tourbillon boasts a wavy black dial and a platinum case and for moneyed-up fans of the brand, this could well be the most attractive way to spend a quarter of a million dollars.

Vintage Watches

Audemars Piguet Reference 25643

Why It’s Worth It: For many of our readers, the idea that the 1990s is now a ‘vintage era’ will be a sad and/or infuriating notion. If anything can turn those frowns upside down it’s a smiling, winking Audemars Piguet Tourbillon with a unique case shape and a striped mother-of-pearl dial. Most interestingly, perhaps, is that the crown is on the caseback, creating an uninterrupted silhouette. Although it debuted in ’86, the most prevalent versions on the market today are all from the ‘90s and command roughly $50,000 to $70,000, depending on condition.

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