NL: Two auctions for two wristwatch masterpieces

Nothing less than the wristwatch that belonged to American millionaire and industrialist, Henry Graves Jr, is to be sold at auction for an estimated value of between 3 to 5 million Francs.

On 11th November next, Christie's will be auctioning a yellow gold, tonneau-shaped, Patek Philippe with minute repeater, commissioned in 1927. An enormously valuable watch bearing the Graves family crest, that disappeared for decades only to reappear in 2012 among the proprty of grandson, Reginald H. Fullerton Jr.

The watch is still considered as the most important of the very first Patek Philippe examples as well as one of the world’s most valuable collector’s items.

Once more at Christie's, on 27th November, and this time in Hong Kong, a second prestigious and exclusive piece by the same manufacturer is to be auctioned for a figure which, according to estimates, will fluctuate between 7 and 14 million USD. It is a 1953, double crown watch, reference 2523, sold to Gobbi in Milan 4 years later. It is one of just 5 examples in pink gold ever sold at auction and one of only two pieces with translucent blue enamelling in the centre of the dial.

The aesthetic beauty of this extraordinary watch fully reflects the ingenuity of the external mechanisms, which include the Heures Universelles, the world time indicator designed and patented in the 1930s by the famous watch-maker, Louis Cottier.