Rare Pink Gold Patek Philippe Sells For Record $7.68 Million

Find out why this 1957 perpetual calendar chronograph is by far the most expensive of its kind.

An exceptionally rare Patek Philippe Ref. 2499 just became the most expensive Patek ever sold with a final bid of $7.68 million—25 percent more than the top of its pre-auction valuation.

Hypebeast reports that the 1957 perpetual calendar chronograph set the record at Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s sale of a single-owner collection of 38 vintage Patek Phillipe timepieces bought by an unnamed watch collector from Nevada.

Four of them were Ref. 2499s, 349 of which were produced from 1950 until 1985 at a rate of about nine per year in four distinct series throughout its 35-year lifespan, according to Sotheby’s.

Square chronograph pushers and a tachometer scale mark the 1st series, produced between 1950 and 1960. The 2nd series got round chronograph pushers between 1955 and 1964, while the 3rd series featured a simple dial between 1960 to 1978. A sapphire crystal demarcates the 4th series, which was produced between 1978 and 1984.

The example in question is a 2nd Series, but there are a few key factors that have made it the monetary king of all Ref. 2499s. It’s one of just nine 2nd series models rendered in in pink gold, and the condition is pristine—the dial’s warm patina has taken on an ivory white hue, and lugs’ fluting is deep and visible.

What pushes it over the top is the presence of a signature by Gobbi Milano, a prestigious Italian watch retailer whose founder once served as Clockmaker to the Royal Court. The Gobbi company is still family-owned after six generations and stands as a leading seller of fine clocks and watches in Italy. The record-setting Ref. 2499 is the only one to bear the signature of any retailer on the dial, let alone a Gobbi.

The Nevada collector’s 37 other pieces on offer did well too, with the entire lot more than doubling its $8.9 expected value to $20.7 million.