Patek Philippe Watch Sells for Record-Breaking $31M

Geneva—A new wristwatch can claim the honor of being the most expensive timepiece sold at auction, and it benefited charity.

At the Nov. 9 Only Watch auction held at Christie’s Geneva, the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime reference 6300A-010 in stainless steel sold to an undisclosed bidder for 31 million Swiss francs ($31.3 million).

It’s the highest price garnered for any watch at auction, beating out Patek’s Henry Graves Supercomplication, which sold for $24 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2014, and the Rolex Daytona that once belonged to Paul Newman, which sold for $17.8 million at Phillips New York in October 2017.

It also has a reversible case, with one dial in rose gold and the other in black ebony.

Unlike its predecessors, the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime’s record-breaking hammer price benefitted charity.

Only Watch founder Luc Pettavino, previously the organizer of the Monaco Yacht Show, which counts many timepiece brands as sponsors, created the auction in honor of his son, who died from the disease.

Prior to Saturday’s sale, the organization had raised more than 35 million euros ($38.5 million) since its inception in 2005, Pettavino told Monochrome Watches.

Thanks to the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, the most recent Christie’s Geneva auction doubled that number, totaling CHF 38.6 million ($40 million).

In total, 50 one-of-a-kind timepieces were donated and auctioned in the sale, which lasted more than two hours.

Following the Only Watch auction were a number of Christie’s Geneva sales this week, including Magnificent Jewels, which saw a 7.03-carat fancy deep blue diamond garner CHF 11.6 million ($11.7 million) to earn the top lot spot.

Christie’s Rare Watches sale, meanwhile, totaled CHF $12.7 million ($12.8 million), with the Henry Graves Patek Philippe made to his specific recommendations in 1972 selling for CHF 4.6 million ($4.62 million).