A 1930s Patek Philippe Reference 96 owned by Aisin-Giro Puyi, the last Emperor of China’s Qing dynasty, is expected to sell for well over $3 million when it is sold at auction by Phillips tomorrow (May 23).
Mr Puyi’s life was dramatized in the 1987 movie, The Last Emporor, which follows his life from when he ascended to the throne as a child, through to his imprisonment in Russia after World War II and later rehabilitation by the new Chinese Communist Party after 1950.
It is not known when Puyi acquired the Patek Philippe watch.
Archivists at the brand have confirmed that the reference was first mentioned in 1929 and sold in 1937, when the emperor would have been 31.
Puyi became the last emperor of China at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate just four years later during the Xinhai Revolution.
Forced to balance his loyalties between China and Japan, he became the ruler of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in the 1930s until its collapse in 1945 when Japan was defeated.
He fled from the Salt Tax Palace in Northeast China, but was later captured by the Soviet army and extradited to the Soviet Union.
During five years of captivity, an official, Georgy Permyakov, who served as the Emperor’s interpreter and tutor became a close friend and was reportedly given the Patek Philippe watch as a gift.
In 1950, Puyi was extradited back to China before eventually being granted amnesty several years later and becoming a citizen of New China.
He lived out his days as commissioner on cultural and historical materials by the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and died aged 61 in 1967.
The museum-grade watch is described by Phillips as a legendary reference of tremendous importance to Patek Philippe’s heritage.
It comes in a platinum case with triple date and moon phase.
Only seven Patek Philippe reference 96 watches in this configuration have previously known, and only two with the exact dial style, which includes an enamel Arabic “Roulette” configuration.
Phillips Hong Kong is hosting The Imperial Patek Philippe Sale on May 23.
