A Patek Philippe grand complication Sky Moon Tourbillon has become the most expensive watch ever to be sold at auction online when it hammered for $5,815,300 at Christie’s Honk Kong’s Top Of The Time sale.
It takes the record for a sale at an online auction, although a Philippe Dufour Grand Sonnerie was sold online by A Collected Man in 2021 for $7.63 million.
The technical difference, and why it might be considered that both watch sales hold their own records, is that A Collected Man’s sale was made online, but not at an online auction.
The Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon supported an overall sales total of $8.4 million for the Christie’s online auction, which ended with 7% of lots unsold.
Auctioneers saw watch sale values drop by 25%, year-on-year, at the autumn sales in 2022 as the wider secondary market for luxury vintage and pre-owned watches cooled.
That softness appears to be continuing into 2023, although Christie’s head of watches for Asia Pacific, Alexandre Bigler, remains upbeat. “There continues to be an extremely vibrant market for watches across the world, evidenced through the avid global bidding this sale witnessed,” he suggests.
The Hong Kong auction achieved the most impressive results for the rarest timepieces.
Key lots (described by Christie’s) included:
Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon
Patek Philippe’s 44mm Sky Moon Tourbillon, on this occasion in white gold, is one of the watchmaker’s most sophisticated timepieces, with a total of 12 complications presented on the main face and underside.
Functions include cathedral minute repeating, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, retrograde date, moon phases, leap year indication, sidereal time, sky chart, phases and orbit of the moon.
This example from around 2015 sold for $5,815,300.
Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeater
PATEK PHILIPPE, circa 2015. Grand Complications with minute repeating instantaneous perpetual calendar, single button chronograph, moon phases, leap year and day/night indication, ref. 5208P-001.
Price realised: $999,541.
Gerald Genta Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeater
GERALD GENTA platinum skeletonised minute repeating perpetual calendar wristwatch with leap year indicator and moon phases.
Sold for $104,791, more than five times over its low estimate.
Andersen Geneve Minute Repeater
Circa 2015 ANDERSEN GENÈVE unique 18ct white and pink gold wristwatch case made by Jean-Pierre Hagman with 21ct blue gold dial, tapisserie decorated, art deco hands, historic LeCoultre minute repeater movement from the 1920s, perpetual calendar and leap year indicator inside 6 o’clock hour index,
Hammered at $45,141.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tourbillon
JAEGER LE-COULTRE 18ct pink gold wristwatch with reverso tourbillon and power reserve. Limited to 500 Pieces.
Bought for $45,141.
