The room was packed and tense with anticipation well before Lot 23 got underway, and in an unusual development, it was announced that there would be no online bidding for Lot 23, and the steel 1518. Only phone bidders and those in the room were able to compete. Even before auctioneer Aurel Bacs had finished his introduction for the watch, a bidder seated in the room started the ball rolling, shouting out an offer of CHF “8 million”! In all, five bidders competed for the prize, with three raising their paddles in the room and two on the phone. It took a full 10 minutes for the winner, a phone bidder with a bid of CHF 12 million, to claim the prize.
In the room was a who‘s who of dealers, collectors, enthusiasts, and watchmakers. They included Geneva-based watchmaker F.P. Journe, dealer and collector Davide Parmegiani, the only person who had previously handled and sold each of the four known examples, and Dr. Helmut Crott, a noted watch scholar, collector and former owner the reference. Previously sold by the same auction house in 2016, it’s an example of one of the most desirable and collectable watches in the history of, well, watches. Needless to say, most people in the room (and watching on the live stream) were there for the buzz.