We all know there are no rules for the rich and maddeningly intrusive limits for the rest of us.
So it came as no great surprise to see Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone flipping auctioning a Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime with Sotheby’s New York.
He even left the factory packaging on and threw in all the paraphernalia that the brand likes to give away with its rarest timepieces.
Flippers know that the full set adds considerable value, and is likely to take the sale price for Sly’s grand complication to the top end of its $2.5 to $5 million pre-auction estimate.
In this instance, the set includes a Certificate of Origin confirming Mr Stallone as the original purchaser, product literature in a large leather portfolio, a collection book, travel case, cufflinks, USB drive, sealed setting pin, hang tag, an Apple iPad with a Patek Philippe leather case, adapter, charger, and Apple earpods with a Patek Philippe case.
Patek Philippe does not share how many of the Grandmaster Chime watches it makes every year, but there are thought to be fewer than 100 in the wild.
It is described as the most complicated Patek Philippe wristwatch ever made, boasting 20 complications, a reversible case with two independent dials and six patented innovations.
The development, production and assembly process covered a staggering 100,000 hours, the company states.
It was first introduced as part of Patek Philippe’s 175th anniversary in 2,014, having taken seven years to develop.
It became part of the permanent collection two years’ later as the Reference 6300 and set a new world record auction price when a unique steel version was sold at the Only Watch charity auction in 2019 for CHF 31 million.
So few are made that Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern is thought to select every individual customer who will get a chance to buy one.
Selling them on is so frowned-upon that the piece put up for auction by Mr Stallone is the first to ever reach a public auction, according to Sotheby’s, which is selling the watch at its New York Important Watches Auction on June 5.
If an authorised dealer had sold that watch to Sly, they would be getting a little hot under the collar with concern that a call from Patek Philippe would be imminent.
I recall speaking to one AD at the height of the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 hype (soon after it was discontinued). He saw on a secondary market platform that a 5711 he had sold was being flipped. He bought the watch back for far more than he sold it for, just to avoid any trouble.
No doubt the actor’s watch was bought directly from the manufacturer, so there will be no awkward questions.
Personally, I think it is everybody’s right to freely sell their own possessions, but rules are rules. Except when they are not.
If Sage Moonblood were alive Sly would have given him the collection
Dumbest headline of the year!