Phillips Hong Kong XII auction raised $24.6m USD at the weekend, making it the most successful watch sale the auction house has ever staged is Asia.
Attaining ‘white’ glove’ status, the sale saw every lot sell, more than doubling its pre-sale low estimate, while some 1,705 online bidders from 55 countries took part, a 30% increase on the previous year.
The star lot was a full set Patek Philippe Ref. 2499 yellow gold perpetual calendar chronograph from 1953 that sold for $1.98m USD, followed by a Patek Philippe Ref. 3974R perpetual calendar minute repeater from 1992 that achieved $1.2m USD, setting the world record price for a pink gold example.
World Cup winner, Fabio Cannavaro’s Patek Philippe Ref. 5208R minute repeating perpetual calendar chronograph sold for $843,264 USD, another pink gold world record. A portion of the proceeds will go to Cannavaro’s charity helping velunerable people in his hometown of Naples.
The final Patek Philippe in the Top 10 was Lot 1029, a third series Ref. 2499 perpetual calendar chronograph from 1977, that went for $714,622 USD.
An A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Rattrapante Perpetual Calendar with white gold case and blue enamel dial took the fifth highest total of the day, achieving $600,932 USD, a world record for the three-year-old reference.
A striking pink-dialed platinum tourbillon Harry Winston Opus One, one of 18 piece unique watches made by F.P. Journe in 2002, sold for $471,001 USD. Journe’s watchmaking figured highly, taking eighth and tenth spot with a $422,276 USD platinum tourbillon constant force remontoire from 2007 and a US$389,794 pink gold example from 2013, respectively.
A pair of Royal Oaks from Audemars Piguet took seventh and ninth spots with a yellow gold perpetual calendar with black dial from 1986 achieving $422,276 USD, while a white gold, minute repeating perpetual calendar split-second chronographs from 2008 sold for $389,794.
In other watch news, Audemars Piguet introduces black ceramic to Code 11.59 Chronograph.
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