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Michael Rubin is the talk of the town after hosting big-name celebs like Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Brady, and Justin Bieber, at his multi-million dollar Hamptons home.

The billionaire kicked off his July Fourth white party celebrations in pure style, and all the plebs on the bleachers can’t get enough of the footage being shared online.

A TikTok video showing the watches worth millions of dollars worn on celebrities’ wrists for the star-studded White Party has gone viral. The timepiece content creator Chad Alexander Kwiatkowski identifies the costly wristwatches worn by the likes of Jay-Z and Tom Brady, gaining more than four million views on TikTok as of today:

@chad.alexander Watches at Michael Rubin’s White Party ✨ Celebrities like Tom Brady, DJ Khaled, OBJ, Jay Z, Lil Baby & more wore some insane watches at the party in the Hamptons from Rolex to Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille, Urwerk & more. #michaelrubin #whiteparty #fourthofjuly #rolex #richardmille #watchtok #watchesoftiktok ♬ original sound – CHAD

However, Bloomberg reported that other watch experts say that not all those watches are worth the prices suggested by Kwiatkowski:

Although Kwiatkowski said Jay-Z was wearing a vintage Patek Philippe Ref. 2499 in yellow gold, and noted that a rose gold version was sold by Sotheby’s in 2022 for $7.7 million (R146 million), other watch experts believe that the watch Jay-Z wore was actually a Patek Philippe 5004R with diamonds—which could sell for up to $1.5 million (R28 million).

Craig Karger, founder and owner of Wrist Enthusiast, agrees that the prices are probably lower than what Kwiatkowski claims:

“What someone lists it for is not what necessarily sells for—especially these really high-end pieces. It’s just an asking price.”

“There’s not really a set market for these watches,” he continues. “You may get a couple sold a year on the secondary market. Some of these—like Richard Mille—there’s so few of them floating around. Anyone can ask whatever they want for one of these watches.”

Eric Wind, the head of Wind Vintage, a dealer based in Palm Beach, Florida, agrees:

“Maybe in reality, they’re 10% to 20% lower for some of those pieces, but it’s not that far off. People are just excited to see what these things are that people are wearing.”

Interestingly, the Rolex watches tended to be the lowest price-point timepieces in the video and appeared less frequently than the ones by Richard Mille:

“Richard Mille watches have the nickname ‘the Billionaire’s Handshake,’” explains Wind. “It’s essentially a way that wealthy people can tell other people that they’re wealthy—by wearing an RM. That’s not a surprise to see many people wearing those watches.”

Even the cheapest Richard Mille watch will cost six figures:

“It’s more of a status thing. Like a superyacht on your wrist,” Karger says. “Richard Mille has become kind of this ultraluxury brand in a way that even Rolex isn’t. Rolex is still something that everyday people strive to buy, even though they’re really hard to.”

But who is the man behind the party of the year with a family home worth R954 million?

 

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A post shared by Michael Rubin (@michaelrubin)

Besides being the man with Hollywood’s A-list on speed dial, Michael Rubin is the CEO of Fanatics which is described by Wikipedia as: “The world’s leading provider of licensed sports merchandise”, per Hello! Magazine:

 

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According to his profile on Fanatics, Michael began selling seeds door to door when he was eight years old, and by the age of 12, he was the founder of a ski tuning show run in his parent’s basement. At age 16, he was bailed out of his money problems by his rich dad on the condition he would attend college, but he only lasted one semester before dropping out to focus on his business ventures.

After making millions from selling sports memorabilia, Michael purchased a beautiful Hamptons home in 2020. With a price tag of $50 million (R954 million) it was never going to be anything short of spectacular.

This is proven in the video below:

 

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A post shared by Michael Rubin (@michaelrubin)

Now, the 50-year-old has an eye-watering fortune of $11,5 billion (R219 billion) according to Forbes, and it’s only climbing.

[source:bloomberg]