HARTQUIST: When I first opened the box to look at the
Patek Philippe, it's a good thing I was sitting down because my knees started to
get weak and I started to shake a little bit. GUEST: This watch was handed down from my
great-grandfather, he was the owner of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch
back in 1914 when he received this watch HARTQUIST: It's manufactured by the Patek
Philippe company of Geneva, Switzerland. This is a photocopy of the original
warranty depicting some of the complications of this watch. The front of
the watch has the hour and minute hand, and the second hand. It also has a split
chronograph so you can time two things. It also has a minute register for the
chronograph. When we flipped the watch over, you have the day, the date, and the
month along with the moon phase. It's also a perpetual calendar which adjusts
for leap year. It's a very complicated watch. In excellent excellent condition.
This watch at auction I suspect would bring close to a quarter million dollars. GUEST: No? HARTQUIST: Yes, this is one incredible watch. I've never held a watch like this in my hand. GUEST: What? You're kidding! HARTQUIST: That is one incredible watch. GUEST: It can be, no. HARTQUIST: Yes, that is an incredible watch. GUEST: I can't believe it. HARTQUIST: Until today, it is still
the best watch I've ever held in my hands. The owner decided to sell it,
we contacted Patek Phillipe, they went through their archives researching the
serial number and then researching similar watches that may exist. I thought
there would be a run of perhaps five watches, however we determined that there was only one watch made that is a unique
watch made by Patek Philippe. I put him in touch with Sotheby's and the auction
took place in 2006 in Geneva, Switzerland. I appraised the watch at two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars, Sotheby's appraised it at slightly more than that.
I believe everyone was surprised when it brought $1.54 million
including the buyer's premium. I'm not sure who purchased it but I do know that
it is on display in the Patek Phillipe Museum. We've spoken with several other
watch experts and that watch today we estimate is worth at least two and
possibly three million dollars.
The coolest thing about this for me is learning it’s a unique piece. That makes it so much more extraordinary.
In 2004 a man brought in his great-grandfather's 1914 Patek Philippe pocket watch, to be appraised on Antiques Roadshow (PBS - Unites States). The appraiser called it the finest watch he ever held, valuing it at a quarter of a million dollars. In this video excerpt filmed sixteen years later the same appraiser gives a brief yet fascinating update on the extraordinary timepiece -- in that it was subsequently sold at auction by Sotheby's in 2006. The incredible beauty and complications of the piece are still breathtaking to this day.