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Antiquorum's Geneva auction nets $12.7 million

November 18, 2008

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Made circa 1815 for presentation in the name of King George III to the Chinese Emperor Jiaqing in 1816, the "Royal Presentation Mirror-Image Pair" pocket watches feature enamels depicting "Affection and Innocence" by Jean-Abraham Lissignol after an engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi.

Geneva--Antiquorum has realized more than 15.3 million CHF, or about $12.7 million, in its weekend auction of Important Collector's Wristwatches, Pocket Watches, Clocks and Horological Tools.

The highlight of the sale was Lot 730, "The Royal Presentation Mirror-Image Pair" of gold pocket watches with painted-on enamel and pearls. The very rare pocket watches, made circa 1815, fetched 2.6 million CHF (about $2.17 million), a worldwide record.

The auction room at Geneva's Grand Hotel Kempinski was full during the Nov. 15-16 auction, Antiquorum said in a media release, and telephone and Internet bidding was active.

Bidding was particularly enthusiastic for a Patek Philippe Ref. 1518, a pink gold perpetual-calendar chronograph (Lot 723) that reached 1,376,000 CHF (about $1,146,000), another world record. Several other Patek Philippe timepieces achieved exceptional results as well, including a pink gold Ref. 2497 (Lot 350) at 620,000 CHF (about $517,000), and Ref. 530 (Lot 250), also in pink gold, which sold for 462,200 CHF (about $385,200).

Despite the turns in the economy, Antiquorum said it is heartened by the sale's results.

"The recent downturn in other collectible markets indeed concerned us in the past several weeks, Antiquorum USA President and Chief Executive Officer Evan Zimmermann said in the release. "But the results in Geneva today combined with the impressive results in last month's auction in New York leads us to believe that collectors and investors in our unique arena continue to feel confident in the long-term strength of this tangible market."

Additional highlights from the auction included a Greubel Forsey "Double Tourbillion 30-degree Vision" in 18-karat gold (Lot 703), a Harry Winston "Opus V" in platinum (Lot 707) and an Audemars Piguet "Perpetual Set N-degree 1 Quantieme Perpetuel" (Lot 708). The timepieces sold for 238,000 CHF, 226,200 CHF and 220,300 CHF, respectively (about $198,400, $188,500 and $184,000).
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