A Tiffany Blue-dialed Nautilus 5711, which sold for $6.5 million on Saturday is not the only Patek Philippe watch to go under the hammer for a world record result this week.
A 1948 Patek Philippe reference 1518 pink gold perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch with moon phases achieved an even higher price at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong when bidding ended at $9,570,900.
The watch was consigned by a descendant of its original owner, Prince Tewfik Adil Toussoun of Egypt, who bought it on July 20, 1951.
Patek Philippe’s entire lineage of perpetual calendar chronographs starts with the reference 1518 launched during World War II in 1941 at the Swiss Watch Fair in Basel.
It is Patek Philippe’s first serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch, and the first of its kind from any brand.
Patek Philippe cased the majority of the 281 total examples of the reference in yellow gold, while only 58 examples believed to have been cased in pink gold.
Pink gold references with a pink dial are even rarer, with the piece that sold at Sotheby’s only the fourteenth know to exist.
In addition to its rarity and provenance, the 1518 achieved almost $10 million thanks in part to its remarkable condition.
Having spent the majority of its life in a safety deposit box, it has never been polished so its hallmarks and original brushing marks are still visible.
It was also sold with its original Certificate of Origin, Operating Instructions and its box, all in immaculate condition.
