Early today I wrote about a fascinating interview with Dr. Peter Friess, curator of the Patek Philippe Museum penned by my friend John Reardon. There is really so much in that story, I can’t recommend it enough. But what might actually be the most illuminating thing that we touched on for a moment in our story, is that Patek Philippe recently acquired what very well could be the first perpetual calendar watch ever.
That alone is worthy of a mention, but in our edit process (yes, every story you see on HODINKEE is reviewed by our whole senior editorial team to see how we can improve upon it) we discovered something even more incredible – Jack found where and when this Thomas Mudge perpetual calendar sold, and for how much, and that is what I think bears repeating here. It was sold this summer at Sotheby’s for 62,500 GBP, or roughly $ 79,000. THE FIRST PERPETUAL CALENDAR WATCH EVER.
I bring this up because frankly our entire team, and the watch world at large, seemed to miss this occurrence. I’m sorry about that, and I’ll make sure we do better moving forward.
And further, the simple fact that for around $ 80,000 one could own such a monumentally important timepiece, is astounding. I will not dare bring up how much your average steel Daytona (or Heuer!) now fetches at auction, but consider that the family Stern paid less for the very first perpetual calendar watch in history, than what Patek Philippe charges for any perpetual calendar in the current collection.
Now this isn’t a criticism of the prices of Patek perpetuals, or the prices of any wristwatch really – simply a reminder that bargains do exist in watches to this day. And yes, the Patek Philippe Museum, arguably the single largest buyer of important watches in the world, got one that day in July. Keep your eyes open and you will be rewarded.
Read more about this amazing watch here.
Wristwatch News, Reviews, & Original Stories — HODINKEE
from Best Watches For Men http://ift.tt/2heRn1Z