There were cheers, subdued though. There were glances of curiosity and admiration. The sprightly suit-clad lady who bid 2.6 million dollars for an exclusive Patek Philippe timepiece took horological passion to a whole new level. The timepiece was bought for the highest ever price for a wristwatch at Sotheby’s worldwide!

The yellow gold, minute repeating wristwatch from The Henry Graves, Jr. collection was undoubtedly the talk of the Sotheby’s watch auction held last month at New York City. The exclusive tonneau engraved with the Graves family coat-of-arms houses an 1895 movement and a 1927 case, and is one of the twelve early 20th century Patek Philippe’s with the fascinating complication. However what bowled the audience over was its elevation from an estimate of $600,000 - $800,000 to a whopping $2,994,500 (buyer’s premium included)!

A fitting collection

The exclusive Patek was not the only cynosure of Sotheby’s day of watches. The auction started out with an interesting set of timepieces and memorabilia from the collection of The Late Reginald H. Fullerton, Jr. and his grandfather Henry Graves Jr., prominent American bankers. And each piece they owned had a charming tale to narrate, of horological history and a near devotion for watches. Largely comprising of Patek Philippe, some remarkable ones included a rare 18k yellow gold, centre seconds, perpetual calendar wristwatch with moon-phases and applied ‘cubist’ numerals (bid for $722,500) and an 18k yellow gold, open-faced watch with a 1914 movement and 1926 case (bid for $302,500).

The collection also saw some exclusive Breguet, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Gerald Genta watches, longcase clocks and reference books. Also interesting to note is that this session of the auction achieved a ‘white glove’ status, where 100 per cent of the lots were sold.

The delectable icing

The latter half of the auction continued the celebration of watchmaking with a set of ‘Important watches & clocks’. The moolah-raker was the smiling Billiken by Cartier/ European Watch & Clock Co. Inc, an important and unique rock crystal, onyx, gold and enamel diamond-set, eight-day desk timepiece ($482,500). In fact, the clocks and desk timepieces were the highlight of the auction.

An interesting spotting were a couple of Swiss open-faced watches for the Indian market. The fine and rare 18k yellow gold hunting case chronograph with an enamel portrait of Sir Rajinder Singh of Patiala by John Graff fetched a neat $68,500.

The second segment saw watches from more brands including Vacheron Constantin, Omega, Chopard, Corum, Blancpain, Panerai, Longines and Bulgari among many others.

While the total sale for the first session of the auction was $8,339,813, the latter half fetched $6,462,254, a significant contribution coming in from the Patek’s.

Lust list

-Cartier’s fine and rare lapis lazuli eight-day desk timepiece with nephrite, diamonds, ruby and gold

- Swiss gold, enamel and pearl set watch in the shape of a mandolin

- Gustave Vichy’s musical automatons. ‘The peasant and the piglet’ is a collector’s winner piece.

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