Christie's broke its own auction record for a watch with the Patek Philippe Ref. 1499, bought at auction yesterday, 14 May, for CHF 2,736,000.
The watch, lot 158, was estimated at CHF 1 to 1.5 million. A figure that is already significant in itself, which Aurel Bacs (Christie's International Head of Watchmaking) in an interview published in the newsstand issue of L'Orologio presciently commented as follows: "This is an important watch, very beautiful. That is why we consider its minimum estimate of one million Swiss francs to be correct: it is a figure that could be interesting for an important and motivated collector."
This is the description that L'Orologio gave of it: 'Probably one of the most important wristwatches to be auctioned in this 2007. It is a Patek Philippe chrono-perpetual Ref. 1499, made in 1957 and personalised on the dial Gobbi Milano.", where Gobbi, unfortunately, is not yours truly...
