A Patek Philippe pocket watch owned by Al Capone in the 1920s will be a highlight of next month’s Important Watches auction at Sotheby’s New York.
The platinum timepiece has an open face that is fading to a rich brown at its edge and a case back decorated with the mobster’s monogram in 90 diamonds.
It was previously sold in 2021 by Witherells for $229,900, an unexpected result after it was tagged with a pre-auction estimate of just $25-50,000, perhaps because it was not working and was missing its minute hand.
Witherells was consigned the watch by a direct descendent of Al Capone, describing how it was inherited by his son, Sonny, and then by his daughters after he died in 2004.
They sold it as part of a wider estate auction.
Sotheby’s has a little more confidence that Witherells, giving it a pre-sale estimate of $80-160,000.
Al Capone’s pocket watch may attract attention, but it will not achieve the highest price at the Important Watch auction.
That prize is likely to go to one of six Patek Philippe minute repeaters in the sale or the only-known example of a double-signed pink gold second series reference 2499 sold by Gobbi Milan.
The auction-grade watch market is likely to impacted by uncertainty around tariffs that are making watches sourced within the United States cheaper than those coming in from overseas for American collectors.
“The US already represents the single most important market for both modern and vintage watches—and this season, US buyers are uniquely positioned: they’ll have access to non-tariffed watches at the very top of the market. Quite simply, they’re getting the best of the best, at exactly the right moment,” a spokesperson for Sotheby’s says.
Headliners at the Sotheby’s New York Important Watches auction on June 10th
Leading the auction is a 1957 Patek Philippe reference 2499 ‘Second Series’ perpetual calendar chronograph in pink gold.
The 37.5mm watch is co-signed by the maker and retailer Gobbi Milan and goes under the hammer with an estimate of $3m to $5m.
Also from the 1950s and co-signed by a second famous Patek Philippe partner, Switzerland’s Gübelin, this reference 25241 minute repeater in pink gold comes in a currently fashionable 34mm case
It has a a three-part case made by Emile Viche, caliber 12”’ movement supplied by Fritz Piguet and silvered opaline dial made by Stern Frères.
Sotheby’s has given it an estimate of $1.25m to $2.5m.
At the contemporary end of the collectors’ market, the sale offers a desirable Reference 5531R-012 World Time Rare Handcrafts minute repeater watch from 2021.
The 40mm pink gold watch has a cloisonné enamel dial with a miniature artwork of Lake Geneva at its centre.
Not quite as desirable as the 10 original versions of the watch — launched in 2017 at the Art of Watches Grand Exhibition by Patek Philippe in New York and carrying a scene of the Manhattan skyline on their dials — the Geneva edition goes under the hammer with a $550,000 to $1.5 million estimate.