Million Dollar Watch Fetches Much More
The 20-karat-gold Vacheron Constantin
After selling the world’s first million dollar Rolex watch at an auction back in May, Christie’s was optimistic for its follow-up “Important Watches” sale, which took place last night at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. They had predicted that there might be another watch that collectors would pay upwards toward a million dollars for (see the interview on Fox News here). they were particularly optimistic about a one-a-kind 20-karat-gold Vacheron Constantin from the collection of U.S. car manufacturer James Ward Packard (1863-1928). However, they still only put an official estimate for the watch at between $250,000 to $500,000.
Well, continuing a trend of great interest in fine, rare watches, the 20-karat-gold Vacheron Constantin sold for $1,762,500, more than triple the pre-sale high estimate. In fact, there were four watches once owned by Packard for sale, all of which had been stored for 60 years in a bank vault. Collectively they realized $2.75 million after having a pre-sale high estimate of $906,000.
Not a bad time to be a fine watch collector.
The first million-dollar Rolex.
The Rolex that sold for a record $1.16 million was made in 1942. The watch is one of only 12 models created, of which only eight are known to have survived.
Read a full article of the Vacheron Constantin sale here.
