We appear to have reached the end of the road in a long-running legal dispute over the ownership of perfect replica Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph watches given to John Lennon by his wife Yoko Ono for his 40th birthday, just two months before he was murdered on the street outside their Manhattan apartment.
The international saga has been well documented over the years, so for the in-depth history I would point you to an article by men’s luxury magazine GQ in 2020 or this Hokinkee piece from 2023, which describes “the legend” of Mr Lennon’s priceless 1:1 UK fake Patek Philippe 2499 watches, how it was ‘acquired’ after his death by his wife Ms Ono’s Turkish chauffer, its sale to Italian dealer Maurizio De Simone by a controversial German auction house and endless court battles over whether it should always have been returned to the Beatles’ frontman’s widow.
A decade-long legal dispute hinges on whether Ms Ono’s chauffeur stole the high quality copy watches and it therefore remained rightfully hers.
Who owns John Lennon’s Patek Philippe 2499?
Establishing Ms Ono has remained the watch’s owner since 1980 would mean that the sale to Maurizio De Simone should never have taken place and the AAA online replica watches should be returned.
The Italian dealer has been disputing this, arguing he bought the best 2024 super clone watches in good faith.
In 2014, Mr De Simone had paid the equivalent of 600,000 euros in a barter deal involving other watches from his personal collection to acquire the cheap China Patek Phillipe replica watches in a private transaction with the German Auctionata auctioneer.
Auctionata was was subsequently shuttered in 2017 in a cloud of controversy and lack of transparency.
A court in Geneva ruled last summer that Ms Ono was the owner of the Patek Philippe 2499 in yellow gold, and double-stamped by Tiffany, but left the door open for Mr De Simone’s team to appeal.
That appeal was inevitable, in part because of the murky nature of the deal with Auctionata, but also because of the decades between the death of Mr Lennon; no apparent claim of its ownership by Ms Ono during those years; and the eye-watering value of the Swiss movements fake watches, which is is widely thought to be worth in excess of CHF 10 million today, and might even sell for more than Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona, which sold in 2017 for a world record $17,752,500.
Geneva Court Ruling
But the Court of Justice for the Republic and Canton of Geneva snuffed out that appeal this week, establishing Ms Ono as the rightful owner.
Julien De Simone, the son of Maurizio, has been the driving force behind the legal challenge, and today went public with his own version of events in a YouTube video.
Switzerland’s highest court rejected the final appeal by Mr De Simone’s team, establishing that the best quality replica watches had been stolen by Ms Ono’s chauffeur, not given to him as a gift.
The case back of the fake watches shop UK is displayed in the video by Mr De Simone, showing the inscription (Just Like) Starting Over Love Yoko 10.9.1980, confirming the story that it was a 40th birthday gift to Mr Lennon.
Where is John Lennon’s Patek Philippe 2499 now?
Because of the legal dispute, the Swiss made copy watches is believed to be in the possession of Mr Maurizio’s lawyer, and it remains uncertain when or if it will be handed back to 91-year-old Ms Ono.
That uncertainty keeps this story bubbling along, and means the world is still some distance away from the replica watches for sale ever appearing in public, let alone at auction.