PRECIOUS TIME: In an indication of wholesome curiosity in distinctive Swiss watches, a uncommon Patek Philippe went for $7.8 million at an public sale in Geneva, setting a brand new world file for that exact mannequin.
An nameless telephone bidder was the victor, amongst 9 contenders who dialed in to The Geneva Watch Auction: XIII, lots of them from Asia, in keeping with Phillips, which organized the weekend sale in affiliation with watch public sale specialist Bacs & Russo. The lot set a file for a Patek Philippe Two-Crown Worldtime wristwatch with a cloisonné enamel dial, and for any wristwatch in yellow gold ever bought at public sale. It went for double its low estimate.
“This result demonstrates the appetite across the international market for uber-rare, museum-quality watches,” Phillips’ Aurel Bacs, senior marketing consultant, and Alexandre Ghotbi, head of Continental Europe & Middle East, stated in a joint remark.
Known to aficionados by its reference quantity, 2523, this “Silk Road” mannequin is the earliest ever fabricated from this reference and, in keeping with Phillips, one of the crucial sought-after and unobtainable timepieces on the earth. Manufactured in 1953, its distinctive options embrace two crowns and a “Eurasia” cloisonné dial, one in every of solely three with that dial motif.
The Patek Philippe museum in Geneva homes three examples of the 2523 mannequin, and that equals to roughly 10 p.c of the entire manufacturing, making this mannequin the one with the very best ratio of examples current within the museum verses examples made, amongst serially-produced references, Phillips stated. It famous that the “restricted production output and the differently decorated dials meant that each one of these watches was treated practically as a pièce unique (one of a kind, in English).”
In 2016, Phillips bought a Patek Philippe mannequin 1518 in stainless-steel for $11.1 million, the very best end result ever achieved for a classic Patek Philippe wristwatch at public sale.
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