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AuctionsMar 15, 2017
Patek Philippe’s Most Complicated Watch Up for Auction
The brand’s yellow gold Calibre 89 could sell for as much as $10 million at Sotheby’s May 14 Important Watches sale in Geneva.
The yellow gold Calibre 89, Patek Philippe’s most complicated watch, has 1,728 parts. It could sell for as much as $10 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in May.
Geneva--The most complicated watch ever created by Patek Philippe soon will be up for sale.
Research into the Calibre 89 began in 1980 and took nearly a decade before the brand unveiled the finished product in yellow gold in 1989 to mark its 150th anniversary.
Nine years later, the final three Calibre 89 watches were finished, in rose gold, white gold and platinum. A prototype of the watch also is displayed at the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
Now, the original yellow gold version will hit the auction block at Sotheby’s Important Watches sale in Geneva on May 14.
The timepiece is estimated to sell for between $6.4 and $9.9 million, with the auction house calling it “one of the most important watches ever to be offered at auction.”
However, if past sales are any indication, the $6-$10 million estimate could turn out to be low, as Sotheby’s sold the “Henry Graves Supercomplication,” which had nine less complications than the Calibre 89, for a record-breaking $24 million in 2014.
The Calibre 89 weighs 2 pounds, 6.4 ounces and measures 88.2 mm in diameter (with the case).
It’s Patek Philippe’s most complex mechanical watch, with 33 complications, 24 hands, two dials, eight disks, 61 bridges, 129 jewels, 184 wheels, 332 screws, 415 pins and 429 mechanical components as well as other parts for a total of 1,728 parts.
In addition to the complex calendar functions, including a tourbillon escapement and an astronomical sun hand, the watch features a unique calendar that displays the date of Easter every year.
Watch the video for a close-up of the Patek Philippe Calibre 89
Sotheby’s also has announced that this auction season will be the first in its new sales location, in the Mandarin Oriental in Geneva.
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