The new successor collection to the legendary Nautilus.

All of the speculation about how Patek Phillippe's top-secret novelty would look ended on October 17, when the historic Genevan manufacture finally officially unveiled its new Cubitus collection of luxury sports watches.

President of Patek Philippe & Co. Thierry Stern is known to be fond of watches in square cases, so the premiere's silhouette seems to be a fairly logical progression of the company's model range.

Stern came up with the name Cubitus himself, which not only refers to the shape of the model, but also has a familiar ring to it that will instantly remind the brand's fans of the legendary Nautilus.

The launch of the new family of watches took six years to bring to fruition from the initial idea to the serial production: four years were spent designing the watch, plus another two spent on developing a brand-new movement: Cal. 240 PS CI J LU.

The line currently consists of three models. There are two versions of the basic three-hand model with a date aperture: steel with a pine-green dial (5821/1A-001) and a two-tone version combining steel and rose gold with a blue dial (5821/1AR-001).

These two versions are equipped with the self-winding manufacture Cal. 26‑330 S C movement and worn on steel or steel-and-rose-gold bracelets with the patented fold-over clasp that has a lockable adjustment system.

The flagship of the collection is the Cubitus Instantaneous Grand Date, Day and Moon Phases Ref. 5822P-001 in platinum, where the architecture of the dial is reminiscent of the Nautilus 5712 but actually differs in terms of how the set of functions it offers are configured.

The new manufacture Cal. 240 PS CI J LU movement with a gold micro-rotor, protected by six patents, powers a grand date, a twin aperture for the week day and moon phase display, and small seconds in addition to the basic indications.

The triple-calendar mechanism isn't a separate module — it's integrated into the movement. The date, day of the week, and moon phase switch instantly at midnight — a precise instant of 0.018 seconds. 

Around 200 components were added to the base Cal. 240 movement to create the calendar, which has more than doubled the overall number of components now totaling 353.

All of Patek's platinum models are traditionally decorated with diamond-set bezels (set above the bottom lug at 6 o'clock), and this novelty is no exception.

Yet this is the first example where a brilliant-cut diamond has been used. The most complicated member of the new family comes with a deep-blue strap made of a composite material with a fabric-pattern finish.

The following prices have been disclosed for the novelties: Cubitus 5821/1A-001 (steel) – 35 000 CHF, Cubitus 5821/1AR-001 (two-tone) – 52 000 CHF, flagship 5822P-001 model with grand date – 75 000 CHF.