Patek Philippe watch fetches record £8.8m at auction

A Patek Philippe reference 1518 in stainless steel established a new world record for any wristwatch to be sold at auction when it went under the hammer on the weekend.

The timepiece – believed to be one of only four of its type to exist – was sold at Phillips’ Geneva Watch Auction, which took place on 12-13 November, for 11m Swiss francs (£8.8m).

It was part of a trilogy of Patek Philippe 1518s, which sold for a combined total of over 13m Swiss Francs (£10.5m). A pink gold example sold for near 1.5m Swiss francs (£1.2m), while a yellow gold example sold for 598,000 Swiss francs (£482,000).

Prior to this sale, the most expensive watch ever to have sold at auction was a Patek Philippe 5016 – sold for £5.6m at the same auction in November last year.

Aurel Bacs, senior consultant, said: “It was a privilege for me to offer the stainless steel Patek Philippe reference 1518.

“It was breath-taking to stand in front of a packed saleroom with over 400 people and another 500 passionate watch enthusiasts from around the world following the auction online or over the phones – it was simply electric.”

In total the “historical and record-breaking” auction realised a total of 27.5m Swiss francs (£22m), with some 177 watches being sold.