Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Patek-Philippe-Sotheby's

Full Text:

Patek Philippe Watches Sell For $1.9 Million At Sothebys

NEW YORK CITY -- Three rare Patek Philippe pocket watches found in a closet

sold at Sotheby's for $1.9 million on Tuesday, June 15. A new American record

for a pocket watch was set when an important and rare massive gold open face

Patek Philippe fetched $794,500.

"Before we were contacted by the family, their existence had been virtually

unknown in the horological world," said Ms Schnipper, senior vice president of

watches and director of Sotheby's international watch department. "We were

thrilled with the results."

The first of these watches, the aforementioned Patek Philippe gold open face,

saw heated competition between two phone bidders before finally selling to a

private museum. The watch chimes each minute, quarter hour and hour. The age

and phase of the moon is indicated by a moon disc that makes a complete

revolution every 59 days, 12 hours and 45 minutes, and has a total of 11

complications.

A large open face clock watch with the Patek Philippe number 174961 sold for

$640,500 to a European private collector, while the third watch, purchased by

London dealer Philip Whyte, was the platinum open face one minute tourbillon

which won first prize in the Geneva Astronomical Observatory Timing contest of

1946 and sold for $453,500.

The watches were offered for sale from the estate of the late Marilyn Preston

Graves, the granddaughter of the watch collector and New York banker Henry

Graves, Jr. Found in a box in a closet, the family had no idea of their

importance or value.

Originally commissioned by Mr Graves, these three watches were among the most

important ever to come on the market and had been expected to fetch in excess

of $1.6 million.