Antiquorum, New York’s specialist watch auction house, has sold a rare Patek Philippe Ref. 3971 minute repeater for almost a million dollars, in a watch sale that totalled $4.5m.
The auction house’s Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces auction took place in its first part on Wednesday, with more than 404 lots up for sale. The final sum made on the day was $4,503,987 (£2.78m), with bidding from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Belarus, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.
The top selling lot of the day was the Patek Philippe Ref. 3974, a rare minute-repeater that “inspired frenzied bidding amongst phone, room and internet bidders”.
Antiquorum said that after several minutes of intense bidding, the “exceptional” timepiece sold to an American bidder for an impressive $902,500 (£556,160), a world record for a single dial Patek Philippe Ref. 3974.
Michael Friedman, horoligical director at Antiquorum USA said: "We are delighted by the outcome for our April auction in New York.
"Today’s results confirmed that the Patek Philippe Ref. 3974 is clearly the next legendary watch attracting both vintage and modern collectors at the highest level."
The auction included several other Pateks, with the watch brand exceeding its sale expectations by garnering a total of $1,067,500 (£657,762.), representing 142 % of the value.
World record prices were attained by the Patek Philippe Ref. 5098, the Chronometro Gondolo in pink gold, the Patek Philippe Ref. 5153 Officer-Style in yellow gold, and the Patek Philippe Ref. 5135 Annual Calendar in white gold.
Rare versions of vintage Rolex models also did well with the Rolex Ref. 6098 Honey Comb Star selling for $ 43,750 and the Rolex Ref. 1680 Sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman bringing in $42,500.
Independent watchmakers including Ludovic Ballouard and FP Journe also sold, as did enamel watches and a number of A. Lange & Sohne watches.
Evan Zimmernan, Antiquorums president and chief executive: "We are thrilled by the degree of competitive international bidding that we witnessed in today’s auction, with particularly passionate participation from our clients throughout Asia.”
The auction house’s next sale will focus on Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks, a watch that is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
