Christie’s Offers 300 Vintage Patek Watches In Special Selling Exhibition

Patek Philippe. 18k white gold ref.5270G 

Christie’s will host what it calls a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to purchase Patek Philippe vintage watches from an expertly curated collection of approximately 300 Patek timepieces. The private selling exhibition opened moments ago and will run till July 23 at its Rockefeller Center headquarters in New York.

The watches are from the mid-19th century to the 20th century ranging in price from $5,000 to $5 million. It will include several models new to the market. They are from various sources around the world, with some purchased from Christie’s decades ago and others from the original owners or families.

Patek Philippe. 18k rose gold ref.533R, manufactured in 1942 and sold in 1943

The Christie’s selling exhibition coincides with the much publicized Patek Philippe “Art of Watches Grand Exhibition” that will take place at Cipriani 42nd Street on the same days. John Reardon, Christie’s international head of watches, said the timing is no mere coincidence.

“With thousands of Patek Philippe collectors and enthusiasts converging on New York in July, it is the perfect time to celebrate all things Patek Philippe and offer collectors the chance to see and purchase exceptional museum quality watches,” he said. “This exhibition offers buyers the opportunity to own a piece of Patek Philippe’s history at all price points.”

Patek Philippe. 18k rose gold ref.5020R, manufactured in 1995

Reardon said his favorite part of the exhibition is being able to present 20th Century Patek watches in a way that shows the development of key complications, beginning at the reference 130 moving onward to the 530, 533, 591, 1579, 1463 and the split seconds 1436.

For perpetual chronographs the exhibit includes four 1518s and then a range of 2499s with examples in each series, Reardon said. With calendars, the exhibit shows the development starting with two examples of early triple calendar 96s and moving on to the presentation of superlative examples of the 1526, 2497, 2438, 3448, and 3450.

Patek Philippe. 18k gold ref. 1463J, manufactured in 1946, sold in 1947

“The icing on the cake is the total production run of the minute repeaters highlighted by seven early minute repeating wristwatches and nearly the entire run of modern discontinued minute repeaters, many with unique variants,” he said.

There will also be educational components to the exhibition with guided tours, lectures and watchmaking seminars with the goal of helping watch connoisseurs to be better collectors.

Patek Philippe, Perpetual Calendar, ref. 2438 being sold on Christie's watches online. Estimate: $150,000 - $250,000

The watches will be on public view at Christie’s Rockefeller Plaza galleries, alongside a display of 85 Patek Philippe pieces to be sold in a dedicated online auction July 13 - 27.

To complement the pieces on sale, there will be more than 20 historically important and rare Patek Philippe watches on display, loaned from global private collections, including many rare models that the watch world has never seen before in public or in horological literature, the auction house said. These includes what are described as “unicorn watches,” such as a Patek Philippe two tone “Reverso” cased wristwatch, a 3448 in white gold case “Senza Luna” with a confirmed extract from Patek Philippe, and an exceptional collection of early Patek Philippe minute repeaters.

James Ward Packard Patek Philippe ring watch

Other items on display include James Ward Packard’s Patek Philippe Walking Stick and Patek Philippe ring watch on view for the first time publicly. The walking stick features a Patek Philippe watch embedded onto the silver knob with a movement that is engraved with Packard’s name. The ring also has a movement and case bearing James Ward Packard's name.

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