The world’s most expensive watch, a £24.2million
Patek Philippe, has sold in Switzerland at a
Christie’s charity auction.
The Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, one of the
most complex timepieces ever crafted, was won by
a private telephone bidder at the Four Seasons
Hotel des Bergues in Geneva on Saturday.
It was expected to sell for around £2million but
smashed the previous record of £13.5million held
by a Rolex Daytona once owned by Hollywood star
Paul Newman which sold in 2017.
The watch features a patented reversible case which
can be turned to show two dials, one in rose gold,
the other in black ebony.
The bidding started at 5 million CHF (approximately $5 million) and by the time it was over, a new
world record had been set for the highest price paid
for any watch sold at auction, ever.
Sabine Kegel, the head of Christie’s watch
department in Geneva, said it ‘does nearly
everything except making coffee.’
The watch is loaded with four spring barrels to
create 20 complications, in watch making this is is
any function that exists in addition to telling time
and has five chiming modes.
Two chimes are patented world firsts: an acoustic
alarm which sounds at a preset time and a date
repeater which can sound the date whenever the
wearer wishes.
Young-po Reporters 