Court filing claims a luxury watch deal turned into a dispute after cash paid – but goods not delivered
A U.S. businessman says he wired $200,000 to a controversial art dealer for a rare watch he never received and is now suing to recover the funds.
The dispute, set out in a new U.K. claim, pits New York management consultant Patrick Coakley against art financier and glamorous gallery owner Olyvia Kwok, 43, over a platinum Patek Philippe 5070P-001 chronograph—sought after by collectors for its blue dial—after what Coakley says was a transatlantic purchase agreed by phone.
Coakley alleges he agreed to buy the Patek from Kwok in July 2023, then wired the funds the same day to her company, Willscape Partners Limited, after the pair discussed the price over text message and phone, according to his Particulars of Claim. Coakley says a second watch—an Audemars Piguet—was delivered, but the Patek never was.
In the filing, Coakley says he paid £123,228.30 for the Patek and an additional £26,139.33 for the Audemars Piguet. He claims the Audemars Piguet arrived first, but that Kwok “failed to deliver” the Patek within the statutory 30-day window set out in the Consumer Rights Act 2015, or at all.
To back his account, Coakley submitted roughly 100 messages and images between the pair, along with banking records, the claim says. In one exchange dated July 12, 2023, Kwok sent a screenshot of a Patek Philippe listing and a link to Chrono24, writing: “This is the blueface.”
The next day, she texted: “Can’t you send me 200.” Within hours, Coakley alleges, he wired $200,000—about £149,367.64 at the time—to Willscape Partners Limited under the agreement.
Coakley claims that, more than six months later, he received partial refunds totalling £44,810.28 in two instalments— leaving him out of pocket for the bulk of the Patek payment. When he issued proceedings in September 2024, his lawyers calculated a further £77,782.35 remained due, plus at least £15,613.98 in interest, according to the court documents summarized in the claim.
Kwok, however, rejects the premise that she sold him a watch. In her Defence, she denies “that the transaction entered into between the Claimant and the Defendant amounted to a sale or purchase of any goods.” Instead, her lawyers say the money was a loan made during a liquidity squeeze—and that Coakley later agreed to take art rather than the Patek.
The Defence claims Kwok offered Coakley a work by artist Raghav Babbar in return for the funds, describing it as an untitled oil on canvas measuring 110cm by 70cm, and asserting it would be worth more than $150,000. Coakley disputes that account, and the case is now set to be fought out in court.
As their relationship deteriorated, Coakley texted Kwok in February 2024, “Life is too short to be caught up in Rich peoples psycho drama. If you don’t know who are your real friends please pay me back the money I lent you.” Kwok’s team cites that message as evidence the money was framed as a loan, not a watch purchase. Coakley’s claim treats it as an attempt to get repaid after a deal he says went wrong.
The watch fight comes after previous litigation involving Kwok and other wealthy associates. Public records show she has been a named party in multiple disputes tied to high-value assets and investment ventures, including a long-running clash with banker Stephen Decani, 51, over a bitcoin mining project in Texas.
The Daily Mail reported that Decani was accused in the High Court of borrowing Kwok’s new Rolls-Royce, claiming it was stolen, and then keeping a £290,000 insurance payout instead of returning the money. Kwok’s name also surfaced in a decade-old Sotheby’s writ connected to two paintings bought at auction—Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Water-Worshipper and Cy Twombly’s Idilli—after a client she said she was bidding for did not pay. The matter was later settled.
