A steel-cased Patek Philippe believed to be the first of its type is due to auction this November, with a top estimate of around £14.8 million.
The watch is going under the hammer at Phillips Geneva Watch Days over November 8 – 9. The auction house previously sold the same watch in 2016, when it made 11 million Swiss Francs (currently around £10.2 million or $13.6 million).
That set a record for a wristwatch at the time, and is still the record for a vintage Patek Philippe. With a current top estimate of 16 million Swiss Francs, it promises a great return for its buyer, and is being seen as a benchmark sale for the vintage watch market.
The watch is a perpetual calendar chronograph with a stainless steel case.
The reference was the world’s first perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch when it was unveiled in 1941. This example was made in 1943.
As you would expect for Patek Philippe, one of the world’s most famous luxury brands, most of those watches were encased in gold. Most were yellow gold. Those made in rose gold – especially those with a pink dial – are extremely sought after.
But the four made in the less glamorous steel case are the rarest and most desirable.
Is that 1 the digit that tells us this is the first stainless steel case? Image courtesy of Phillips.
Aurel Bacs, Phillips auctioneer, said: “This is like a Queen or a King dressed in casual streetwear. It just doesn’t rationally make sense.”
To this day, Patek Philippe has never repeated the decision to encase a perpetual calendar chronograph in stainless steel.
The watch’s history is well known. The case (made by Georges Croisier) is numbered 508’473, the movement 863’193. The number 1 engraved inside the case has been taken to mark it as the first of the four stainless steel examples to be made.
Another of the four is currently listed for private sale with a tag of over $20 million.
While Rolex is a favourite with collectors, Patek Philippe is by some distance the most valuable watchmaker. No fewer than four of the top five most valuable watches sold at auction are Pateks; the only exception, a Rolex worn by Paul Newman.
The most valuable watch ever sold at auction is a Patek that realised $31.2 million in 2019.
This watch is currently listed as the fourth most valuable watch ever sold at auction, and will need to sell for more than $17.8 million to go up in that list.
Perhaps it will. We will find out in November.
