Audemars Piguet ‘Grosse Pièce’ No. 16869 made history today, 8 December, after had exceeded expectation of $500,000 to $1000000 estimate being sold with a stunning price of $7,736,000 .
This is a new record for an Audemars Piguet watch and the watch was sold in New York at Sotheby’s auction.
And I am glad that people wont pay stupid amounts of money on watches like Graff Diamonds Hallucination which is priced at $55 million.
Audemars Piguet ‘Grosse Pièce’ No. 16869 Breaking the record
This sale is a new record for Audemars Piguet, the previous record was set in 2022 at Sotheby’s and the piece sold was an Royal Oak owned by Gerald Genta.
Grosse Piece sale more than tripled that result, establishing a new record that surpasses with $5 million more than any other AP ever sold at auctions.
What makes Audemars Piguet ‘Grosse Pièce’ No. 16869 special
Audemars Piguet ‘Grosse Pièce’ No. 16869 is far from an ordinary pocket watch. This pocket watch was made for the English market and stands as one of the most historically significant timepieces ever created by Audemars Piguet.
Complications
Audemars Piguet ‘Grosse Pièce’ No. 16869 ties with AP’s “Universelle” as the most complicated pocket watch from the brand during this era. It features a combination of rare complications that make it truly exceptional.
Celestial Rarity: It is the only watch made by Audemars Piguet with celestial complication, making it a special singular achievement in the manufacturer history
Tourbillon exclusivity: Grosse Piece is the only known pocket watch from this brand equipped with a tourbillon.
These factors, combined create intense interest among collectors which resulted in a fierce bidding that pushed the price to $6.3 million before fees.
Auction and Context
It was a fierce battle between whealthy people for Audemars Piguet ‘Grosse Pièce’ No. 16869 and the price was quickly pushed past $2 million, then $3 million. In the end, just before the hammer struck, just before the final bid which increased to $6.3 million.
The Grosse Piece wasn’t the only watch from the Olmsted Collection Sale. Several other lots achieved impressive results which shows us that there is a market for historically significant timepieces.
A ten-day silver and gold two-train desk clock was sold for $2,734,000 and the clock belonged to Robert Olmsted.
The John Motley Morehead Double Movement Minute Repeating Split Seconds chronograph with register reached $3,710,000, while another double-movement Patek with a minute repeater and two sets of hour and minute hands achieved $2,490,000.
It’s still hard for me to comprehend why someone would pay such an amount for a pocket watch, or a watch really. But I guess that there is a market where some rich people with a lot of money buy things just to show that they can. Anyway, still better to pay for this watch than to pay $1.1 million for Greco Geneva Asteroid which is very ugly.
