"Uber-Rare" Patek Philippe Watch Sells for Record $7.8m
May 09, 21
(IDEX Online) - One of the world's rarest watches, a Patek Philippe Reference 2523 with Eurasian Dial, sold at auction yesterday for a record $7.8m.
Nine telephone bidders battled it out for the newly-discovered timepiece (pictured), one of just three known to exist globally. The buyer remains anonymous.
The watch fetched more than double its $3.7m estimate at the Geneva Watch Auction, held by Phillips, in association with the specialist auction house Bacs & Russo.
It set records for highest price for a Patek Philippe Worldtime two-crown wristwatch with cloisonné enamel dial, and for the highest price ever paid for a yellow gold wristwach sold at auction.
"This result demonstrates the appetite across the international market for uber-rare museum quality watches," said the auction houses in a statement.
The Patek Philippe Reference 2523 was launched in 1953. There are only two other known examples with the European and Asian landmass depicted on the watch's cloisonne enamel dial in marine blue, gold, green, and turquoise, rather than North America (five watches) or South America (three watches).