It’s not every day that top-tier watchmaker Patek Philippe launches a new line. In fact, it’s been a huge gap of 25 years since the last fledgling family of watches debuted. So it was a big news day for the horology world last month when the Geneva-based company introduced the new Cubitus. Despite all the fractious noise on social media, it was worth waiting for. With its distinctive case geometry of a square with rounded corners and its insouciant air of casual chic, it is a bold and original move.

In a market where 85 per cent of watches are round in shape, it could be considered a risk to square the circle. But Patek Philippe has history with “form watches”: the manufacture has a rich heritage with “quadrangular” shapes – square, rectangular, trapezoid or cushion – many of which flourished during the Art Deco period. And, significantly, Thierry Stern, president of the company, says he isn’t averse to taking a ‘calculated’ risk and likes ‘to confound expectations’. He’s not, he explains, a trend follower. Instead, he wants to zag where others zig: ‘We have to surprise people.’

For Stern – the fourth generation to helm the business, which is the last family-run watchmaker still operating in Geneva – and his family, watch creation is a passion, and the Cubitus is very much his personal crusade. He had been thinking about adding a square watch design to the collections for 15 years and it’s when he became president that he realised there could never be the ‘right’ time, and he started the conversations. It took four years to create the watch he dreamed of, a sporty square watch that was also slender, that was neither too traditional or too bulky. As the design inched forward, it started to take in design codes from the brand’s very popular sports chic models, the Aquanaut and Nautilus. Stern unapologetically realised that he was missing a trick if he didn’t pick up cues from Patek Philippe’s DNA – after all, they are his and the team’s to play with.

The Cubitus debuts with three models, all 45mm, which is big but doesn’t look huge on the wrist, thanks to its slim profile. The flagship is the platinum Ref 5822P, which features a big format date, moon phase and day of the week, all of which change instantaneously. It is finished with a blue composite material strap with complementing cream stitching (platinum would have been too heavy, not so sporty, Stern says) with a Cubitus fold-over clasp. Then there are two models with date function: Ref 5821/1AR, the bi metal in steel and a subtle-coloured rose gold with a blue dial has a vintage appeal, and the steel version, Ref 5821/1A, has an olive-green dial, both with complementing metal bracelets. All have horizontally embossed dial patterns, and alternate polished and vertical satin-brushed finishes play with the light and add to the contemporary flourishes. The aim for an urban and fashionable younger crowd, particularly with the latter two, underscores the popularity of sports luxe models with integrated bracelets.

As the virtuoso of high-end complications, Patek Philippe was always going to raise the game with its new collection. At the heart of the new models lie new calibres, chosen to display the grand date. Typically for Patek Philippe, the platinum model’s movement development has involved the filing of six patent applications. The other two are powered by a self-winding calibre with stop-seconds function, while all contain rotors and mini rotors decorated with the same motif as the dial, as can be seen through the sapphire crystal caseback.

It’s hard to deny that the Cubitus trio have character and, despite barely a month since their release into the watch world, they already have the demeanour of having been around for a while, a successful design signal. As the forefathers of a new family of watches, it will be exciting to see the iterations that will follow over the years, as for sure, ‘there will be brothers and sisters’ added to the family, Thierry Stern affirms. There no doubt will be different sizes, materials, dial colours, maybe a few beguiling gemstone-set versions. The building blocks of a whole new family, with the gift of design touches from cousins, have been laid.

Ref 5822 in platinum, £75,690; Ref 5821/1A in steel, £35,330; Ref 5821/1AR in steel and rose gold, £52,480; patek.com