List Of Most Expensive Watches Sold At Auction
This list of most expensive watches sold at auction documents the watches sold at auction worldwide for ''at least'' 1.5 million US dollars. The final price listed is the total price paid by the buyer converted to US dollars, according to the currency exchange rate at the time of auction. This price is the aggregate of the hammer price (i.e., the winning bid or sale price at the auction) plus any buyer's premium paid to the auction houses (where levied, and in accordance with the rates charged by the relevant auction house). While the rates of buyer's vary between auction houses (which rates can also vary within each auction house based on the nature of the lot and its value), most auction houses publish their results inclusive of the buyer's premium, and so the rankings which follow are based on the aggregated price paid by the buyer: for the watch itself (the hammer or sale price) and for the auction house's services and administrative costs (the buyer's premium). Inflation-adjust ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the world. Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems. Originally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages,. the territory is now one of the world's most signific ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Mille
Richard Mille is a Swiss luxury watch company founded in 2001 by Dominique Guenat and Richard Mille, based in Les Breuleux, Switzerland. The brand specialises in high-priced clockwork watches, which have been criticised by some as "ridiculous" and "unnecessarily extravagant". Company history After studying marketing in Besançon, Richard Mille (born 13 February 1951, Draguignan, France) started work at Finhor, a local watchmaking company in 1974. The company was bought by Matra in 1981, and Mille rose to manage Matra's watchmaking business, which then included the brands Yema and Cupillard Rième. Matra's watchmaking activities were sold to Seiko; Mille left in 1992 to start a watchmaking business for jewellery firm Mauboussin. Development Following a disagreement about commercial strategy at Mauboussin, where he was a shareholder, Richard Mille left his position as general manager to launch a range of watches. In late 1998, Mille presented his plans to his friend Dominiq ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Daniels (watchmaker)
George Daniels, Order of the British Empire, CBE, British Horological Institute, FBHI, Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA, Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, AHCI (19 August 1926 – 21 October 2011) was an English horologist, inventor of the coaxial escapement, author and a classic car collector. He hand built 23 pocket watches and two wrist watches, as well as clocks. As at December 2022, only Patek Phillipe and Rolex watches have achieved higher prices. Six of his watches have each sold for in excess of USD$1.5 million. Producing a single watch and its components required 2,500 hours from Daniels, over about a year. Commentators have referred to them as 'works of art' and 'technological and horological master pieces'. Typically his watches had clear, clean dials with subsidiary dials interwoven with the main chapter ring. He was selective about the commissions he accepted, stating "I never made watches for people if I didn't care for them." Early l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philippe Dufour
Philippe Dufour, AHCI (born 1948) is a Swiss-born watchmaker from Le Sentier, Vallée de Joux. He is regarded as a master of modern watchmaking, and his watches are referred as among the best ever made. He finishes all of his watches himself by hand. In 1992, Dufour was the first watchmaker to put arguably the most complex of complications in a wristwatch, a Sonnerie. His other two models include Duality and Simplicity. Education At the age of 15, Dufour decided to choose a profession rather than pursuing academics. Upon his decision to study mechanics, he got his first training at the Ecole d’Horlogerie de la Vallée de Joux and graduated in 1967. Career Following the completion of his studies, he was hired by Jaeger-LeCoultre in 1967. After working for several companies, Audemars Piguet ordered 5 Sonnerie movements for pocket watches from Dufour and he started to work on the project in 1982. The last movement was delivered in 1988. After finishing the order, he set out ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Audemars Piguet
Audemars Piguet Holding SA () is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury good, luxury watches, headquartered in Le Brassus, Switzerland. The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring the name ''Audemars Piguet & Cie'' in 1881. The company has been family-owned since its founding. The company is best known for introducing the Royal Oak wristwatch in 1972, which helped the brand rise to prominence within the watchmaking industry. One of its earlier achievements was creating the first Repeater (horology), minute-repeating Movement (clockwork), movement in 1892. The company developed the first skeleton watch in 1934 and has manufactured some of the thinnest watches, such as the 1986 ultra-thin Automatic watch, automatic tourbillon wristwatch (Calibre 2870). History Early history Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet knew each other in their childhood but were not reconnected until 1874, when they were in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Breguet (brand)
Breguet () is a Swiss luxury watch, clock and jewelry manufacturer founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1775. Headquartered in L'Abbaye, Switzerland, Breguet is one of the oldest surviving watchmaking brands and a pioneer of numerous watchmaking technologies such as the tourbillon, which was developed into a practical solution by Abraham Breguet in 1801. Abraham Breguet also invented and produced the world's first self-winding watch (the ''Perpétuelle'') in 1780, as well as the world's first wristwatch in 1810 (the Breguet No.2639, for Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples). Breguet is a highly regarded watch manufacturer. Over the years, notable Breguet patrons and timepiece owners include Emperor of the French Napoléon Bonaparte, King George III, Queen Victoria, Alexandre I of Russia, Ettore Bugatti, Sir Winston Churchill, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Gioachino Rossini, Arthur Rubinstein and so on. The ''Breguet & Fils, Paris No. 2667 (1814)'' pocket watch is among t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Breguet MG 2576
Breguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker ** Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Breguet Aviation, a defunct French aircraft manufacturer **Louis Charles Breguet (1880–1955), French airplane designer * Breguet School, now known as École supérieure d'ingénieurs en électronique et électrotechnique ESIEE (previously named ''École supérieure d'ingénieurs en électrotechnique et électronique'' ) is a network of French graduate schools ("French Grande Ecole") composed of two graduate schools of engineering known as ESIEE Paris, ESIEE Amiens ... (ESIEE) See also * {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Poly Auction
China Poly Group Corporation ( zh, s=中国保利集团公司, p=Zhōngguó Bǎolì Jítuán Gōngsī) is a state owned Chinese business group among 102 central state owned enterprises under the supervision of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC). It is both primarily engaged in representing the Chinese defense manufacturing industry in international sales and the world's third largest art auction house (behind Sotheby's and Christie's).Bowley, Graham and Barboza, David"An Art Power Rises in China, Posing Issue for Reform", ''The New York Times'', 16 December 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2016. History With the approval of the State Council, China Poly Group Corp. was set up on the basis of Poly Technologies, Inc. in February 1992. Poly Technologies was formed in 1984 as an arms-manufacturing wing of the People's Liberation Army. Poly Corporation Headquarters The Poly Corporation Headquarters in Beijing, designed by Skidmore, Owings ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sotheby's
Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK. Sotheby's was established on 11 March 1744 in London by Samuel Baker, a bookseller. In 1767 the firm became Baker & Leigh, after George Leigh became a partner, and was renamed to Leigh and Sotheby in 1778 after Baker's death when his nephew, John Sotheby, inherited Leigh's share. Other former names include: Leigh, Sotheby and Wilkinson; Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge (1864–1924); Sotheby and Company (1924–83); Mssrs Sotheby; Sotheby & Wilkinson; Sotheby Mak van Waay; and Sotheby's & Co. The American holding company was initially incorporated in August 1983 in Michigan as Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. In June 2006, it was reincorporated in the State of Delaware and was renamed Sotheby's. In June ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antiquorum
Antiquorum is an auctioneer of modern and vintage timepieces. Established in Geneva in 1974, Antiquorum was the first auction house to auction fine watches over the Internet in the 1990s. The company was founded in Geneva in 1974 and expanded to have branches in ten cities, including New York, London, Moscow, Paris, Milan, Munich, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Antiquorum conducts auctions in Geneva, New York and Hong Kong about ten times a year, preceded by previews in various major cities worldwide. In 1989 Antiquorum held a "landmark auction" called "Art of Patek Philippe." This auction helped to establish Patek Philippe's reputation as a luxury watch brand and viable investment and solidified the notion that watches could be more than just "timepieces." Notable Auctions * In 2002, Antiquorum set the all-time world record for a wristwatch at auction, selling a unique 1939 platinum Patek Philippe World Time Ref. 1415 for US$4,026,524 (SFr. 6,603,500) - more than double the previous ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phillips (auctioneers)
Phillips, formerly known as Phillips the Auctioneers and briefly as Phillips de Pury, is a British auction house. It was founded in London in 1796, and has head offices in London and in New York City. In 2022 it was owned by the Mercury Group, a Russian luxury goods company. History Phillips was founded in 1796 by Harry Phillips, who had been a clerk to James Christie. The business held twelve auctions in its first year and soon became successful. Napoleon and Beau Brummel were among the early patrons. Harry Phillips died in 1840, and the business passed to his son William Augustus, who renamed it Phillips & Son; when his son-in-law Frederick Neale joined in 1882, the company became Phillips, Son & Neale. It was renamed Phillips in the 1970s; it was usually referred to as Phillips, the Auctioneers. In 1998, the company bought Selkirk, then a 168-year-old St. Louis auction house.Carol Vogel (3 April 1998)Joining the Team''New York Times''. In 1999 a majority stake in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |