Patrizzi & Co. will open their 2010 season in New York City on March 9 with a sale titled “Timeless Emotions—Collecting Pocket Watches, Wristwatches and Clocks”. The sale includes more than 150 collector pieces. Highlights include a 1929 gold and nephrite Cartier table clock featuring grande sonnerie chimes—one of two clocks with the most complicated mechanism ever made by the company.
Grande sonnerie striking hours marking the quarter hours is extremely rare for a Cartier desk clock. The case is in 18k yellow gold with nephrite base and side panels. Its enamel face depicts the time and phases of the moon as well as three subsidiary dials with day, alarm and date. The clock was owned by the son of New York City’s youngest mayor, Hugh L. Grant, who led the city, beginning at age 31, from 1889-1892. The pre-sale estimate is available upon request. Other Cartier pieces in the sale include several tank-style platinum men’s wristwatches, a platinum minute repeater pocket watch, and a men’s jeweled dress pocket watch.
This platinum Cartier men’s tank watch has a pre-sale estimate of $80,000 to $100,000
Three Patek Philippe ref. 2526 wristwatches are also included in the sale. This sought-after reference was the company’s first wristwatch powered by an automatic movement. Made in 1956, ref. 2526 is in platinum set with diamonds, which is extremely unusual for this model. The pre-sale estimate is $110,000 to $140,000. The second and third examples are in 18k yellow gold with enamel dials; one features a woven gold bracelet and was originally sold in 1955 and the other was made in 1956.
The auction will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday March 9 at Patrizzi & Co., 595 Madison Avenue, Suite 605. Buyers can bid on site, via phone, written bids, and in real time online via the company’s website, patrizziauction.com. A public preview will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 6-7, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Monday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. During these times, company experts will offer complimentary appraisals and accept consignments for future auctions.
Concurrent three-day New York Silent Sale In conjunction with the three-day preview of the auction, Patrizzi & Co will conduct a Silent Sale of an additional 100 timepieces, including Rolex, Cartier, Piaget, Omega, Vacheron Constantin and Jaeger-LeCoultre. Interested buyers can examine the pieces and place their initial bid at the company’s New York showroom. A text message system will notify them of competing bids, allowing them the opportunity to rebid before the silent auction closes the evening of Monday, March 8.
Patrizzi & Co does not charge a buyer’s commission, representing a 20 to 25 percent savings from the hammer price for the buyer. Unlike most auction houses, this means the final sale price reflects the actual value of the timepiece.
