China’s Last Emperor-owned Patek Philippe Sells for $6.2 Million in Hong Kong
SHANGHAI — A Patek Philippe watch once owned by Puyi, the last emperor of China‘s Qing Dynasty, sold for a record 49 million Hong Kong dollars, or $6.2 million, at a Phillips Asia auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
The lot, a Reference 96 Quantième Lune model from the Swiss watchmaker, was expected to fetch $3 million.
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An anonymous phone bidder snatched the storied timepiece at 40 million Hong Kong dollars, or $5.1 million, excluding the buyer’s premium fee.
Secondary market prices for rare and vintage timepieces remain strong in a post-pandemic world. This March, a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon set a new record as the most expensive watch ever sold online, with a hammer price of $45.5 million Hong Kong dollars, or $5.8 million.
According to Thomas Perazzi, head of Phillips Asia’s watch division, the sale of the Puyi timepiece was the highest price sold for a Patek Philippe Reference 96 at a sale. According to the auction house, the watch is one of eight known copies of the model in the world.
Puyi, born Aisin-Gioro Puyi, who inspired the Oscar-winning film “The Last Emperor,” was the 11th and the last monarch of the Qing Dynasty. He later became the pseudo-emperor of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo in the 1930s, until its collapse in 1945. As the story goes, Puyi ordered his men to scrape off half of the yellow gold coating on the dial because he wanted to check if the watch was made of platinum. But to his disappointment, he discovered it was made of brass.
After Puyi was deported back to China from a Soviet Union detention camp in 1950, the wristwatch was later gifted to his Russian interpreter Georgy Permyakov.
After three years of investigation, Phillips researchers verified the authenticity of the watch and found its original purchase record, which came from the French retailer Guillermin.
The timepiece was part of a May auction called “The Imperial Patek Philippe,” which also included Puyi’s diary, a painted paper fan owned by Puyi and multiple watercolors by Gobulo Runqi, Puyi’s brother-in-law.
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