Overview
- The 1943 Ref. 1518 in stainless steel sold for 14,190,000 Swiss francs (about $17.6 million) in Geneva after just under nine and a half minutes of bidding, going to a telephone bidder.
- Five bidders pursued the watch, which is one of only four known Ref. 1518 examples in steel and is believed to be the earliest of that quartet.
- Reference 1518 is regarded as the first serially produced wristwatch to combine a perpetual calendar and chronograph, with roughly 280 made primarily in gold.
- Phillips' two-day Decade One auction, held with Bacs & Russo at the Hotel President, totaled more than $83 million with every lot sold and 1,886 registered bidders from 72 countries.
- The same steel 1518 achieved CHF 11 million at Phillips in 2016, and this weekend's result establishes a new auction benchmark for a vintage Patek Philippe wristwatch.