A Patek Philippe watch worn by China’s last emperor sold for a record HK$48.8 million (€5.7 million) in China’s semi-autonomous region on Tuesday.
An Asian collector, residing on Chinese territory, bought the exclusive piece over the phone after six minutes of intense bidding, surpassing the previous sales estimate of $3 million (2.78 million euros), according to the Phillips auction house.
The Patek Imperial, as it is known, was a gift from Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi to the Russian interpreter who accompanied him while detained in the Soviet Union, and is one of only eight known unique pieces of the Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantum Lune.
Thomas Perazzi, head of watch division at Phillips Asia, said this was the highest price ever achieved for an Imperial wristwatch.
Other models bought at auction that belonged to emperors include a Patek Philippe owned by the last Ethiopian monarch, Haile Selassie, which fetched $2.9 million (2.6 million euros) in 2017.
A Rolex of the last emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai, was sold for five million dollars (4.6 million euros).
This Imperial model in platinum with a diameter of 2.5 centimeters has a dial with Arabic numerals, rose gold hands and a function that shows the visibility of the Moon from the Earth at a precise moment.
Part of the internal mechanism dates back to 1929, although the Swiss brand only launched the model in 1937.
Pu Yi collected several watches, the most notable of which was the Patek Philippe Calatrava 96 Quantieme Lune, which he kept while imprisoned in the Russian city of Khabarovsk, in the east of the country, because he was allowed to have a secret compartment in his watch. Suitcase. , where he reportedly carried gold, jewels and this Patek.
It was later given to Georgy Permyakov, a Mandarin expert who served as a tutor and translator during his time in prison at the end of the post-World War II Japanese occupation of Manchuria.
Pu Yi ascended the throne in 1908, aged just 2, and less than four years later was forced to abdicate when a republican uprising overthrew the Qing dynasty, though he continued to live in the Imperial Palace in Beijing.
Japan later installed him as Emperor of Manchukuo in the Manchuria region of northeastern China. In World War II and after Japan’s defeat, it was captured by Soviet forces and held as a prisoner of war.
According to Phillips’ account, Pu Yi gave the watch to Permyakov in 1950, shortly before he returned to China as a prisoner to face trial for war crimes.
The life of the former sovereign inspired Bernardo Bertolucci’s film “The Last Emperor” (1987).
Source: DN
