A TIME FOR SQUARE

In October, Patek Philippe unveiled its first wholly new collection of timepieces in 25 years. Prestige Singapore was among the first in the world to see the Cubitus trio of timepieces and find out how they were created.

- LYNETTE KOH

During a beautifully crisp October, I arrived in Munich for the launch of Patek Philippe's highly anticipated launch, the Genevan brand's first wholly new collection since presenting its Twenty-4 women's watch range 25 years ago. But even before the event, the online watch community had already been abuzz with chatter about what this new release might look like.

A week prior to the official launch, an image that was apparently an advertisement showing a never-seen-before Patek Philippe timepiece had surfaced on social media. Named Cubitus, the watch had a square case with rounded corners - not entirely unfamiliar, but not something that had been done before by Patek Philippe - and a dial with horizontal grooves, a characteristic of the brand's sporty-elegant Nautilus.

It was a handsome watch, but was it real? Even though most people could not be certain of the advertisement's authenticity, many folks online lost no time weighing in with their thoughts on this purported new design. Many of these sentiments were negative - unsurprising for anyone familiar with the incessant carping of keyboard warriors.

Soon, it was confirmed that the advertisement was genuine, as was the Cubitus, with the watch in the leaked image being one of a trio of timepieces kicking off the launch of this new timepiece family. Even though the surprise of the new product launch was a tad dampened by the leak, Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern was in ebullient spirits when he met with the press a day before the official launch party of the Cubitus.