Salt Bae Divides Fans With 'Bedazzled' Diamond Patek Philippe Watch Flex

"My man's gone from rock salts to rock diamonds. Real glow up."

Salt Bae Divides Fans With 'Bedazzled' Diamond Patek Philippe Watch Flex

Turns out charging four figures for dramatically seasoned steaks is a good way to fuel a high-end watch habit.

Nusret Gökçe – better known as ‘Salt Bae‘ – is a Turkish butcher, restauranter and social media star who went viral in 2017 for his outrageous way of sprinkling salt. While the man was already rather successful before his Internet fame, the subsequent attention has enabled him to open a steakhouse empire, with ‘Nusr-Et’ restaurants on both coasts of the United States as well as across the Middle East.

His latest venture? A new location in Los Angeles’ iconic Beverly Hills. While the opening night was apparently reasonably quiet, it’s since proven to be a hit with LA locals, with lines down the street on many nights, according to TMZ – clearly, they’re not scared by the outrageous prices.

Opening a successful restaurant in the midst of COVID? That’s certainly a cause for a celebration. And celebrate he has: Salt Bae’s splashed out on a rather expensive new watch – a vintage Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 3800/108 that might be even more outrageous than his carnivorous dining habits.

Available from 1981 to 2006, this 18ct yellow gold version of the iconic luxury sports watch is entirely pavé-set with around 7.5cts of round diamonds, from the dial to the bezel and even the integrated bracelet. Three baguette-cut blue sapphires are used for the 12, 9 and 6 o’clock hour markers, with a date window at 3 o’clock.

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Previous examples of this reference have sold at auction for everything from 125,000 AUD to as much as 290,000 AUD, with the price of this piece likely to be even higher than this, thanks to the insane levels of hype the Nautilus is currently enjoying.

In short, it’s an incredibly bougie watch, but Salt Bae does deserve some props for choosing a vintage piece over something straight out of the boutique. Not that he hasn’t done that previously – the man owns quite a few Nautiluses (or is that Nautili?)

Fans online are divided over this extravagant watch. While some think it’s “tacky” others have nothing but praise for the Turkish tenderloin tender: “my man’s gone from rock salts to rock diamonds. Real glow up, beautiful piece.”

Seems Nusr-Et Beverly Hills has already started to attract some celebrity clientele – not surprising considering the fancy postcode. One recent high-profile diner was English action movie star Jason Statham, who can be seen above wearing an expensive watch of his own: a Rolex Submariner ‘No Date’ (ref. M124060-0001).

Talk about the lifestyles of the rich and the famous.

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