News-Antique.com - Dec 08,2009 - New York – Following recent blockbuster Fall sales of fine and rare watches in Dubai, Geneva and
Hong Kong, Christie's New York is delighted to present a selection of over 380 fine and rare
timepieces for auction on Tuesday, December 15. Vintage and modern wristwatches from all of the
major manufacturers are represented, as well as pocket watches, fine ladies watches, and rare signed
clocks. Prices begin at $700 and range upwards to $350,000 for the most important signed
timepieces. The total sale is expected to achieve in excess of $4 million.
Sam Hines, Head of Watches at Christie’s New York comments: "As our recent sales have demonstrated,
demand for high-quality timepieces continues to expand globally, as we welcome new collectors into this exciting field.
For our final auction of Important Watches this fall season, we have assembled a sale that is bursting with exceptional
items from the top manufacturers, including Patek Philippe, A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Girard-
Perregaux, Cartier, Rolex, and Franck Muller to name but a few. Opportunities to acquire investment-quality pieces
abound, led by several rare and important examples not likely to be seen on the market again for some time."
RARE MINUTE-REPEATING WATCHES
Among the top lots of the sale is a selection of superb Patek Philippe minute repeating wristwatches
- a highly-coveted complication among devoted collectors of fine wristwatches. Initially designed in
the 17th century as a means of reading a watch without aid of light, minute repeaters contain a
mechanism that chimes at varying pitches to indicate the hour, half and quarter hour, and minute.
The extremely rare and highly important Patek Philippe reference 5016, a platinum minute
repeating tourbillon wristwatch, is the second most complicated wristwatch ever produced by the
firm (pictured page one, center; estimate: $350,000-550,000). Manufactured in 1994, the watch also
features a perpetual calendar, retrograde date, and moon phases.
Other great rarities among minute-repeating watches include the Patek Philippe
reference 5074, a signed 18k gold minute repeating watch with an oversized face,
perpetual calendar and moon phases, manufactured circa 2003 (estimate: $280,000-
350,000), and the Patek Philippe Reference 5078, a signed platinum minute
repeating watch with a handsome enamel dial. Manufactured circa 2007, the watch
comes with its original box and certificate and a spare back (estimate: $250,000-
350,000). Also featured is an elegant 1927 wristwatch that was manufactured by
Audemars Piguet but retailed by Cartier (pictured at left; estimate: $120,000-
180,000). This outstanding watch is one of only 35 minute repeating watches
produced by the venerable house between 1906 and the late 1920s, and has
remained in the same private collection for the last 18 years.
SIGNED WATCHES FROM TOP MANUFACTURERS
Leading the broad selection of over 200 modern signed watches from top
houses is a sleek platinum Girard-Perregaux reference 9971 from circa 2005, a
fine and rare oversized tourbillon hour striking watch with a pink golden bridge
visible through the aperture (estimate: $100,000-150,000); a curved tonneaushaped
Richard Mille reference RM002 from circa 2002, a 18k pink
