Sylvester Stallone’s Patek Phillippe Grandmaster Chime sold for $5.4 million at Sotheby’s last week, a healthy couple million bucks above its retail price.
At least a few people expressed consternation about Stallone selling the watch just three years after acquiring it, one of whom was Patek CEO Thierry Stern.
“Of course, we do not like it, but it can happen,” he said to WatchPro regarding Stallone’s 6300G. “I cannot control everybody. It is not fair for a client who may have been waiting for this piece for many years and then sees it being sold.”
No doubt it’s frustrating for Stern and potential clients to see one of the mere handful of Grandmaster Chimes that Patek makes every year fall into the hands of someone who sold it pretty quickly. Does selling a watch two-plus years after acquiring it mean Stallone is forever marked with a scarlet letter “F” (for flipper)? Surely it must in the eyes of Patek – in that interview, Stern basically says that Stallone will never buy a new Patek again.
But it’s not like Stallone did anything wrong. He forked over a few million dollars to buy a watch, and it’s his right to do whatever he wants with it. Of course, actions have consequences, as any kindergartener in a time-out can attest.
All that to say, it’s a solid result for a big-time watch from Sotheby’s, even if the Stallone provenance didn’t do a ton.
Now that the obligatory Grandmaster chatter is out of the way – results across the rest of the New York auctions were decidedly mixed.
Phillips’ sale led the way, totaling $23.4 million, Sotheby’s $21 million (across live and online), and Christie’s $13.2 million, with another couple million to close in its online sale. More importantly, Christie’s wasn’t hacked this month, so that’s a step in the right direction. For reference, Phillips’ market-leading total was $26.4 million last June, so the headline numbers are down, but still… it’s a lot of money for watches.
On the personnel side, Sotheby’s also announced that Sam Hines had rejoined as Chairman of Watches, while Geoff Hess has been promoted to Global Head of Watches, a bump up from leading the Americas. The announcement comes about a year after Hess joined Sotheby’s, having previously been a specialist at Phillips. The move had been expected for a few months – Hines left Sotheby’s to join online auctioneer Loupe This a few years ago, but remained a consultant for Sotheby’s, and secured some high-profile pieces for consignment during that time.
We could keep talking about numbers and results, but I get the sense that’s often boring, so I wanted to try something different. Back in Geneva last month, I saw one of the best Patek Philippe 1463 examples that has come to market (Lot 134, Antiquorum Geneva). Antiquorum’s Managing Director, Julien Schaerer, said it was perhaps the best he’d ever seen. When dealers Eric Ku and Justin Gruenberg came on the podcast shortly after that sale, they agreed and even said the $328,500 all-in price was a bit disappointing. To be clear, that’s still a lot of money for a yellow gold 1463. I’ve heard the Italian dealer who won it was quite pleased with his pickup.
Two more gold 1463 examples popped up in New York last week, and both sold for much less – less than half! – that magnificent 1463. So for this auction recap, I thought we’d get super granular and look at all three of these and see if we can try to understand why one 1463 would sell for about $100,000, one for $160,000, and one for more than $300k.
If you’re familiar with vintage watches, you know it comes down to one word: condition. So let’s try to get inside the mind of the well-heeled 1463 collector and take a closer look at all three of these examples to see what condition really means at this rarified level and how it can 2x the price of a Patek.
First, let’s quickly remember what the 1463 is, i.e., one of the sexiest vintage Pateks ever made. It’s the only vintage Patek chronograph with a waterproof case, and this robust case and its proportions (about 35mm), engraved “Tasti Tondi” pushers, and rarity make it one of the ultimates in collecting. It’s estimated about 400 examples were made in yellow gold, though less than 200 have surfaced.
Patek 1463: The Dial
To be clear, that Antiquorum 1463 is also signed Eberhard Milan and that’s cool, but much of this watch’s appeal still comes down to its pristine condition.
Let’s start with the dial. Once we establish that it’s a legit Patek dial, the question is one of condition and how much (and how carefully) it has been cleaned.
Almost every vintage Patek dial has been cleaned, at least on some level. And this is totally fine and acceptable! Patek made dials so they could be cleaned and last forever. Unlike modern dials, the details on these dials were engraved in relief – namely, the Patek signature and the outer tracks – and then filled with hard enamel. It’s a time-intensive process that’s largely completed by hand, but this means that the signature and outer tracks are filled with a hard enamel that lasts, even if the dial is sanded and cleaned.
When these watches are sent to Patek for service, they’ll be carefully cleaned. The intensity of this cleaning can range from a light wash and sanding of the dial to being almost completely restored and re-enameled, depending on the condition of the dial. Indices are also often removed during this cleaning process. If you want an in-depth discussion of this, check out Eric Wind’s excellent HSNY lecture.
Even though the dials are meant to last, each successive clean leaves signs of wear: enamel is lost; vertical striations appear on the dial; dial holes where the indices are fixed become worn and larger, even visible under the indices; and indices are misaligned when reapplied. Where applicable, subdial and calendar aperture cutouts have softer lines.
This can all be difficult to see in photos, even more so when using catalog images from an auction house that have no doubt been retouched. It’s also all subjective and can vary from dial to dial – remember, the dial making and cleaning are largely completed by hand. But even with the deck stacked against us, let’s see what we can see.
When evaluating watches like this, it can help to start by looking at a pristine, original example to understand what it “should” look like. Let’s start with the Patek 1463 at Antiquorum that many have said is one of the best they’ve seen:
First, note how the enamel on the signature and outer track is completely even, and there’s no loss anywhere. The “Patek Philippe” enamel signature is raised but close to the dial. When a dial has been cleaned a lot, this signature can look more raised like a pitcher’s mound as dial material is sanded away, but the signature remains. The subdial lines look sharp and crisp.
When a dial is cleaned, the first enamel portions lost are typically the small accent above the “E” in Geneve and the crossbar connecting the top of the “A.” The latter is called a blown A. In pre-1948 long signatures – signed Patek, Philippe & Co – the comma will also often be lost. These are still intact with this 1463, further evidence the dial hasn’t been cleaned.
With this 1463 image in mind, let’s look at the other two 1463s that sold in New York. First, the Phillips example:
This 1463 sold for $107,950, and at first glance it’s basically the same watch. The Extracts for these watches even put production just a year apart. But zoom in on the Patek Philippe signature, and you’ll start to notice some differences. This signature has lost the accent above the first “E” in Geneve, the first sign of cleaning. You’ll also notice the enamel on the signature is more uneven in spots. There’s partial enamel loss, especially noticeable on the “Es.” You’ll also see some enamel fading on the tracks of the outer numerals. It’s all still there, but compare this to the Antiquorum example above.
Next, look at the indices and hands. First, you’ll notice they have a warm patina I actually find attractive, but there also looks to be some scratches from handling. Under some of the indices, it seems like you can start to see holes poking out where the indices are applied.
You’ll also notice that the hour hand, in particular, has some scratches. Further, the minute hand actually seems darker than the hour hand – with the indices having some patina, it’s hard to know whether this is original or not.
Finally, the subdials look to have slightly softer lines than the previous example, indicating they’ve been sanded down over time.
Let’s look at the gold 1463 that sold for $163,800 at Christie’s. Like the previous example, you can see some faded enamel on the signature and outer tracks. To me, it’s easier to make out faint vertical striations that indicate sanding in these images than the others, but this is often hard to see in photos (I also dropped the image in Lightroom and turned up the sharpening and contrast which makes these easier to see). I also thought I was going crazy, so started drawing some horizontal lines across the dial. But look closely and it seems like some indices are a bit misaligned and asymmetrical, indicating they were removed and re-applied during a cleaning.
Funny enough, Everywatch ran some numbers for me and discovered the average sale price for a yellow gold 1463 over the past year is $163,000, which gives us some evidence that this example at Christie’s is, roughly, an “average” 1463.
Patek 1463: The Case
Since that dial discussion was quite in-depth, I’ll keep the case discussion brief but just point out a few things. Like dials, these Patek cases are polished when taken in for service to remove scratches. Nowadays, though, big-time collectors prefer cases with their original, sharp, and full lines.
That 1463 at Antiquorum was so impressive because it had all these:
The first thing Schaerer of Antiquorum pointed out to me was the bezel. Look how flat it is, and the sharp lines on either side as it steps down into the midcase and the dial. These lines are much softer in most other 1463s. Look how much more rounded the bezel looks in the other examples:
Looking at the edges and thickness of the lugs is another key:
When looking at gold watches, people often start with hallmarks. While it’s important to see these hallmarks, it only says so much. Take these three watches as an example: They all have their hallmarks, but as established, vary widely in overall condition. First, you can see the hallmarks punched on the back lugs of all, and they’re all relatively crisp:
These 1463s also have another hallmark on the midcase, tucked between the crown and chronograph pusher. But even on watches that show signs of polishing elsewhere, these hallmarks are unlikely to be touched by a polishing wheel. The guy polishing the case just isn’t going to remove the crown or pushers to get at all those nooks and crannies. Why start to mess with things that impact the movement when your job is just case finishing?
While seeing these hallmarks is nice, it’s also important to look at the entire case when evaluating condition.
Whether it’s Patek, Rolex, Cartier, or even the more affordable Movados and Midos that eBay bottom-feeders like me scoop up, evaluating condition has become the most important consideration in buying vintage watches. More important than just whether or not a watch is “rare” is what kind of shape it’s in.
To be clear, it’s not that a watch that’s been cleaned or polished is suddenly undesirable. These were all still six-figure Pateks! But it’s important to understand. You can also tell where subjective taste starts to creep in – for example, I mentioned I liked the warm patina on the indices of the Phillips 1463. You might disagree with me, and that’s fine.
This was only a brief introduction to evaluating condition and applying it to a few watches at auction. We could go on; let me know if you enjoyed this article, and perhaps we’ll do a more in-depth series on evaluating the condition of vintage watches.