The watch auction world’s attention shifts to New York this month where Sotheby’s hosts its Important Watches auction on December 11 with vintage and modern timepieces from Patek Philippe, Rolex and Jaeger-LeCoultre among 270 pieces going under the hammer.
A public exhibition to see the watches opens in Sotheby’s New York galleries on December 5.
Patek Philippe is likely to command the highest prices for watches including a Ref 1518 Pink Gold Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Wristwatch with Moon Phases, made in 1946. It has an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000).
A Patek Philippe Ref 130 Stainless Steel Chronograph Wristwatch from 1947 has an estimate of $100,000 to $200,000 while a Ref 3448 Yellow Gold Perpetual Calendar with Moon Phases Hard Enamel Signature and Pearl Minute Markers, made in 1970, is expected to command $150,000 to $250,000.
The top 10 lots at the auction, described by Sotheby’s are:



$400/600,000). An exceedingly rare variant of the reference 5020, only two
examples of the Ref 5021 in platinum – including of the present watch – have appeared at auction. Made with pavé-set diamond bezel and lugs, black lacquer dials and chaton-set diamond marker, the Ref 5021’s unusual case design houses the legendary Lemania based Cal M.27-70/155 with Geneva Seal.


Patek Philippe single-factory seal.

in a series of fewer than 80 pieces for the reference were produced (pictured left, estimate $230/350,000); Ref 5013, A Pink Gold Minute Repeating Perpetual Calendar Wristwatch with Retrograde Date Moon Phases and Leap Year Indication, made in 2000 – the firm’s most complicated wristwatch made in a series and the first wristwatch to combine an automatic movement with minute repeater, retrograde date and perpetual calendar (estimate $250/350,000).



