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Important Watches & Clocks

OVERVIEW

Sotheby’s is pleased to announce its upcoming sale of Important Watches & Clocks, to be held December 4th in New York. This curated group offers some of the finest timepieces from a broad range of categories, from vintage and modern wristwatches, to complicated pocket watches and decorative pendant watches. Patek Philippe, Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne and Rolex are represented among the 243 lots.

The auction will be highlighted by the sale of a massive 1955 Patek Philippe wristwatch measuring 48 millimeters and featuring a black dial (lot 243). Further lots of interest include a technical tour-de-force, the IWC Scafusia (lot 209), as well as three vintage Patek Philippe watches (Refs. 605 and 2597) featuring Louis Cottier’s inventions (lots 239-241). A selection of jeweled timepieces from the late 19th and early 20th century exhibits breathtaking quality from the finest makers (lots 33-65).  

Sotheby’s is also honored to offer the Duc D’Orléans Sympathique clock and accompanying self-winding pocket watch by Breguet, a timepiece of unparalleled horological and historical significance. As one of the greatest technological feats in the history of horology, the Sympathique (lot 124) boasts a French royal provenance and a strong exhibition history at two of the most important horological museums, the fabled Time Museum of Rockford, Illinois and the Patek Philippe Museum of Geneva.  The Sympathique was also discovered by the famous watch maker and collector, George Daniels, who took a personal interest in this clock and spent much time working on it.

Following the landmark sale of “The George Daniels Horological Collection” taking place in London, Sotheby’s Watches is thrilled to announce its upcoming sale in New York.

RESULTS

The 4 December auction of Important Watches & Clocks at Sotheby’s New York was led by The Duc d’Orléans Breguet Sympathique, which set a new auction record for any clock and the second-highest price for any timepiece at auction when it sold for $6,802,500, above an estimate in excess of $5 million. The distinguished example of the exceptionally rare Sympathique clocks, which helped cement the fame and renown of French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, was last offered at auction in Sotheby’s 1999 sale of ‘Masterpieces from the Time Museum,’ when it achieved $5,777,500 – this price has remained the auction record for any clock until today’s sale.

The Important Watches & Clocks auction totaled $11,672,988, marking the highest result for a various-owners sale of watches and clocks at Sotheby’s New York. In addition to the Sympathique, both vintage and modern wristwatches by Patek Philippe dominated the day’s top results, led by A Fine and Extremely Rare Massive 18K Yellow Gold Center Seconds Wristwatch, 1955, Ref 2512/1 that achieved $962,500, more than five times its high estimate of $150,000. The watch is a legend among collectors of Patek – at 46 millimeters in diameter, the dimensions of this reference are truly extraordinary, and the present example has remained in the same private collection since it was sold at Sotheby’s in June 1988.