Salt Bae is globally recognised for his unorthodox – albeit spectacular – method for salting meat. His steakhouse restaurant Nusr-Et is also widely regarded as one of the best steak restaurants on the planet, and while we know full well it had patrons including the likes of Neymar, Tom Brady and Kylian Mbappé lining up for photos of the famous steak, we hadn’t heard from him in a while.
You see, if you’re not one of his 38+ million followers on Instagram you might have missed the glaring surprise we were all greeted with when we reared his head (and wrist) at a recent event and dually sparked the interest of keen watch eyes. Sporting the super-rare one of three Patek Philippe Nautilus 5719/11G-010 with sapphire bezel was a shock for many, but as it turns out, it’s just one of the many incredible watches in his collection. We had to take a closer look at Salt Bae’s watch collection.
Salt Bae’s Patek Philippe Collection
Nusret “Salt Bae” Gökçe’s rose to immediate fame after the meme of him salting a steak went viral almost a decade ago. Now a restauranteur of global fame, he quickly turned his instant popularity into a successful steakhouse empire, and today he has 19 Steakhouses to his name across the globe. Serving expensive steaks – some even wrapped in gold – he was able to pivot his net-worth and acquire a number of rare and sought after Patek Philippe pieces along the way. His collection is mostly made up of various Nautilus models with many of them featuring factory set diamonds and a few custom additions.
All in-text linked imagery sourced from superwatchman.com and @watchescelebrities*
1. Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 3700/3 Diamond Set Bezel
More often than not, you’ll spot Salt Bae rocking his Patek Philippe Nautilus 3700/J3 when he’s serving steaks to his most famous clients. This particular reference is a very rare diamond-set version of the classic Nautilus Jumbo. The bezel houses 112 diamonds with a total carat weight of 1.48 and the bracelet itself is the larger 16.5mm variety found on the first generation Nautilus 3700/1. There is a very good chance that Salt Bae’s watch is the exact piece found listed on Christie’s Auction website, linked below.
Movement: Automatic, Caliber 28-255 C, 36 jewels.
Dial: Ribbed black, applied luminous gold numerals, luminous hands, a window for date.
Case: 18K gold two-part secured by four screws in the band, bezel set with 112 diamonds, 42 mm.
Signed: Case, dial, movement, underside of bezel numbered 024, clasp punched with Gay Frères mark.
Price: USD$75,000 (2016, a steal by today’s standard).
2. Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 3800/108
It’s hard to call this the show-stopper of Salt Bae’s collection when we look at the sapphire set reference coming up, but wow is this bust down Patek is about as gaudy as a gold watch gets. Featuring 220 pave-set diamonds weighing a total of 7.00 carats, baguette-cut sapphire markers, and a rare limited production run to boot. This is a serious timepiece for only the gaudiest and over the top enthusiast.
It might be a sheer coincidence, but when you consider the rarity of these pieces this looks to be another piece scooped up by Salt Bae from Christie’s Auctions a year after the first. When you consider the market inflation and price paid by Salt Bae – if these are indeed the same pieces – he got an absolute deal on these pieces from Christie’s.
Movement: Automatic, Caliber 335 SC, Geneva seal, 29 jewels.
Dial: Pave-set diamond, sapphire-set numerals, sweep centre seconds, date.
Case: 18k gold of typical form, pave-set diamond bezel and ends, 37 mm wide.
Price: USD$77,500 (2017, a steal by today’s standard).
3. Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5719/11G-010
Now, this is the show-stopper. Clearly a fan of the fully iced look, Salt Bae was recently spotted in the newest piece from his collection. The Patek Philippe Nautilus ref. 5719/11G-010 sports 255 brilliant-cut diamonds, baguette-cut diamonds and 32 baguette-cut blue sapphires around the bezel. This is a serious piece, and with a market price sitting right around USD$1 Million it’s only for the wealthiest of Patek Philippe collectors. Rumoured to only be available to THREE special clients of Patek, the most recent listing of this one of a kind reference was via Robert Maron.
Movement: Automatic
Case: 42mm, 18K White Gold
Year: 2015
4. Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 3520
The Calatrava might be the simplest of Patek Philippes in Salt Bae’s collection, however, it’s always nice to see a collector ground themselves with a more ‘accessible’ reference. Features include hour and minute hands, and the hand-wound Calibre. 177 movement. The dial originally featured simple markers as seen here, but other iterations found Roman numerals and Arabic numerals as well.
Movement: Calibre. 177, hand-wound movement.
Dial: Champagne/yellow dial.
Case: 18 kt yellow gold, 32 mm.
5. Patek Philippe Nautilus 18k Yellow Gold Blue Dial ref. 3800
It’s rather difficult to tell from photos whether Salt Bae’s 3800 features a black or dark blue dial, however, both offer extreme levels of sophistication and are an essential part of any Patek Philippe collectors lineup. The 3800 is a slightly smaller version of the original Nautilus, produced after 1981 and powered by an all-new in-house automatic calibre 330 SC movement.
Movement: Calibre 330 SC automatic.
Dial: Blue dial.
Case: Yellow gold, 37.5 mm.
Price: from AU$106,098
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