Lifestyle Asia Logo
Style
Food & Drink
Travel
Culture
Beauty & Grooming
Living
Gear
Most Trending
Why Vacheron Constantin’s La Musique du Temps release provides much to swoon for
Most Recent
The new unisex Mulberry Portobello Tote is made of 100% sustainable leather
  • Fashion
  • Watches
  • Jewellery
Most Trending
Peroni Italy presents: Volti Restaurant & Bar is the place to be for beer and bites
Most Recent
Must-tries: Gigi Dining Hall & Bar brings out the fun in Italian food
  • Dining
  • Drinks
  • Reviews
  • Discover Johnnie Walker
Most Trending
Checking in: Doubletree by Hilton Ploen Chit, the sweetest staycation in Bangkok
Most Recent
The best honeymoon hotels in the world, as per our favourite Instagram couples
  • Destinations
  • Hotels & Resorts
  • Exploring China with SQ
Most Trending
Fabulous festive gift guide: discover personalised gifts at Siam Discovery
Most Recent
8 pick-up lines you can only use at Wonderfruit 2019
  • Entertainment
  • Architecture
  • Events
  • Art & Design
Most Trending
The 6 best beauty sets to gift your loved ones this festive season
Most Recent
5 celebrities who launched beauty brands in 2019
  • Grooming
  • Makeup
  • Skincare
Most Trending
The 6 best beauty sets to gift your loved ones this festive season
Most Recent
5 celebrities who launched beauty brands in 2019
    Most Trending
    Give your home a festive feel with these aromatic candles
    Most Recent
    We took part in a 5-hour ‘silent night’ retreat and came out very sharp
    • People
    • Wellness
    • Property & Interiors
    • Luxe Living Asia
    Most Trending
    In other curious collabs, The Weeknd teases new song in Mercedes-Benz campaign
    Most Recent
    6 tech accessories to gift the tech junkie in your life this Christmas
    • Tech
    • Motoring
    Most Trending
    In other curious collabs, The Weeknd teases new song in Mercedes-Benz campaign
    Most Recent
    6 tech accessories to gift the tech junkie in your life this Christmas
      • bk
        • BK
        • PAR
        • PAR [CN]
        • KL
        • SG
        • HK
        • IND
      • Search
      The Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime is the most expensive watch ever sold
      Sort & Filter
      Close Filter
      Sort By
      Date
      Relevance
      Filter By Category
      All Categories
      All
      Style
      Food & Drink
      Travel
      Culture
      Beauty & Grooming
      Weddings
      Living
      Gear
      Apply
      Filter By Location
      bangkok
      All Countries
      When Worlds Collide: The unexpected excellence of Drake’s x Aimé Leon Dore
      Style
      Vacheron Constantin re-releases the Historiques Cornes de Vache 1955, this time in stainless steel
      Style
      Sip your way to satisfaction with Hong Kong’s best martinis
      Food & Drink
      Lifestyle Asia Logo
      bk
      The Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime is the most expensive watch ever sold
      Back
      All  Style
      • Fashion
      • Watches
      • Jewellery
      Back
      All  Food & Drink
      • Dining
      • Drinks
      • Reviews
      • Discover Johnnie Walker
      Back
      All  Travel
      • Destinations
      • Hotels & Resorts
      • Exploring China with SQ
      Back
      All  Culture
      • Entertainment
      • Architecture
      • Events
      • Art & Design
      Back
      All  Beauty & Grooming
      • Grooming
      • Makeup
      • Skincare
      Back
      All  Living
      • People
      • Wellness
      • Property & Interiors
      • Luxe Living Asia
      Back
      All  Gear
      • Tech
      • Motoring
      • Kuala Lumpur
      • Paris
      • Paris [Chinese]
      • Hong Kong
      • Bangkok
      • Singapore
      • India
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • Instagram
      Sort & Filter
      Close Filter
      Sort By
      Date
      Relevance
      Filter By Category
      All Categories
      All
      Style
      Food & Drink
      Travel
      Culture
      Beauty & Grooming
      Weddings
      Living
      Gear
      Apply
      Filter By Location
      bangkok
      All Countries
      Style
      12 Nov 2019

      The Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime is the most expensive watch ever sold

      Randy Lai Watches Editor
      Standard Article Hero
      Created with Sketch.
      Sign up for our newsletter to have the best news and reviews from Lifestyle Asia delivered straight to your inbox.

      Step aside, Rolex.

      Over the weekend, Christie’s made headlines around the globe with its sale of the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime. The ultra-complicated Pièce unique — sold as part of charity auction Only Watch 2019 — hammered for CHF$31 million, setting a new world record for ‘most expensive wristwatch ever sold’. The realised price puts it ahead of the Henry Graves Supercomplication and Paul Newman’s personal Daytona (both of which currently hold the #2 and #3 record for ‘most expensive watch sold at auction’). Experts had initially estimated the watch would fetch between CHF$12 million-$15 million, although it quickly became apparent that such predictions had been extremely conservative.

      Style
      5 outstanding timepieces up for auction at Only Watch 2019
      Read More

      Reports from the floor indicated that Christie’s auctioneers soared right past the CHF$17.8 million mark — the final price realised by the Paul Newman Daytona — without so much as a sneeze, and that it was only around CHF$20 million when genuine head-to-head competition began. Three telephone bidders, represented by specialists from Christie’s London and Geneva offices, engaged in a prolonged stand-off — the stakes were largely raised in CHF$500,000 increments — culminating in an offer to buy the Grandmaster Chime at CHF$31 million (approx. HK$243 million). Interestingly, the final winner (represented by Christie’s Geneva) was revealed to be an important Asian collector who, despite his prolific reputation, is not an auction season regular.

      Grandmaster Chime
      Scenes from the Only Watch 2019 salesroom floor. Note the attendance of industry VIPs such as Theirry Stern (Patek Philippe) and Jean-Claude Biver (LVMH) in the front two rows.

      The record-breaking sale of the Grandmaster Chime returns the title of ‘world’s most expensive wristwatch’ to Patek Philippe, after an extended two-year spotlight on Rolex and the cult of Paul Newman Daytonas. The sale is indeed important for a number of reasons (i.e. it involves a modern non-sport reference, based on a publicly available model) though it’s yet unclear what quantifiable effect this will have on demand for Patek’s complicated mainline watches. Regardless, thanks to the remarkable price at which this lot sold, brand executives can be confident that there will be renewed interest in Patek Philippe from the general public — a frontier traditionally dominated by the sole preserve of Rolex.

      Grandmaster Chime
      The Grandmaster Chime ‘Only One’ is based on Patek’s ultra-complicated Ref. 6300G. Like its predecessor it features no less than 20 complications – this time in stainless steel.

      Held biennially in Geneva, Only Watch is an auction focused on the sale of rare and exceptional timepieces, operated in conjunction with the Monegasque Association against Muscular Dystrophy. 99 percent of the proceeds of sale go to scientific research aimed at treating Duchenne myopathy — an neuromuscular disease which affects nearly one in three thousand males at birth.
      To see all of the sales results for Only Watch 2019, visit Christie’s online.

      This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong.

      Style
      Watches
      Patek Philippe
      patek philippe grandmaster chime
      Only Watch 2019
      Watch news
      Randy Lai Watches Editor
      Having worked in the Australian digital media landscape for over 5 years, Randy has extensive experience in men's specialist categories such as classic clothing, watches and spirits. He is partial to mid-century chronographs and a nice chianti.
      Talk to Me About:
      Style
      Watches
      Drinks
      Tailoring
      Travel

      Up Next For You

      Style
      The new unisex Mulberry Portobello Tote is made of 100% sustainable leather
      Lifestyle Asia
      Style
      Why Vacheron Constantin’s La Musique du Temps release provides much to swoon for
      Lifestyle Asia
      Style
      Undress this: the full anatomy of a tuxedo
      Lifestyle Asia
      Style
      Sponsored Content
      How to have an amazing day of shopping and dining at Siam Paragon
      Lisa Gries
      Want more cutting-edge coverage of the latest fashions? Sign up for our weekly newsletters.
      ×
      Where are you?
      Tell us so we can display what you want to see.
      • Kuala Lumpur
      • Paris
      • Hong Kong
      • Bangkok
      • Singapore
      • India
      Hong Kong Paris Bangkok Kuala Lumpur Singapore India
      Advertise About Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions
      © 2019 Copyright Lifestyle Asia
      To give you the best browsing experience, this site uses cookies. Find out more.I accept
      Cookies Policy

      Privacy Overview

      This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

      Privacy Overview

      This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

      Necessary Always Enabled

      Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.