Pablo picasso watch

Pablo Picasso’s personal wristwatch smashes pre-auction estimate to sell for €219,050

The watch, made by independent Swiss watch producer Michael Z. Berger, had a pre-sale estimate of €12,000 to €18,000.

Pablo Picasso’s personal wristwatch has been sold by Bonhams in Paris for €219,050 (£188,000), nearly 20 times its pre-sale estimate. 

The watch went under the hammer just days after a 1932 painting, Woman Sitting by a Window, by the artist sold for $103 million in New York.

Picasso is known to have worn the watch while he was painting, and it bears his full name on the dial.

The circa 1960 manual wind steel bracelet watch by independent Swiss watch producer Michael Z. Berger, had a modest pre-sale estimate of €12,000 to €18,000.

Catherine Yaiche, director, Bonhams France who was the auctioneer of today’s sale in Paris, said: “This is an exceptional way to end this sale.”

The Picasso watch was one of three known examples bearing the artist’s name on the silvered dial, with black letters forming the hour markers, as depicted in many portraits of Picasso such as the one by Cecil Beaton in his studio.

WatchPro Salon

Bonhams will be participating at this year’s WatchPro Salon, which takes place at The Londoner hotel on Leicester Square from November 12 to 13.

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