Ascent Sotheby's International Realty_Vail Valley Luxury Rentals MILESTONES MAGAZINE_Summer/Fall 2015 | Página 16

TIMED TO

PERFECTION

The product of a competition to build the most complicated wristwatch, Patek
Philippe’s superb Henry Graves Supercomplication appears at auction this Fall.

S

M A LC O LM C OS SO NS

uperlatives such as ‘iconic’ or ‘unique’ are now applied to everything
from high heels to DVDs. It is only when something truly warrants
these terms that the true extent of that hyperbole becomes apparent.
Such an object is the Patek Philippe Supercomplication 2 pocket

watch. Universally acknowledged as the ‘Holy Grail’ of timepieces, it will be of-

How do you
make the world’s
most significant
Timepieces?
You don’t let
time come into it.

fered at Sotheby’s in Geneva this November. Watch watcher and Financial Times

writer Nick Foulkes applauds the piece: “For watch lovers it is the equivalent of
Yo Picasso or La Giaconda, a masterpiece of near mythical status.”
The watch was last sold (for over $11 million) 15 years ago and returns to
auction this Fall to coincide with the 175th anniversary of Patek Philippe. With an
estimate in excess of CHF 15 million, Tim Bourne, Sotheby’s Worldwide head
of Watches and Daryn Schnipper, chairman of Sotheby’s watch Division
based in New York, are in no doubt of its importance: “The Henry Graves Supercomplication 2 combines the Renaissance ideal of the unity of beauty and
craftsmanship with the apogee of science. Our offering of this horological work
of art in 1999 was unquestionably the highlight of our professional careers and
set a world record that has held until today.”
So why does it warrant this level of attention? The watch was commissioned
directly from Patek Philippe in 1925 by Henry Graves Jr, a member of a wealthy
New York banking family. Renowned as a patron of the arts, this avid watch collector nursed a passion to own the most complicated watch in the world. He was,
however, not alone in his desire and between 1900 and the mid 1930s Graves
and another wealthy American, James Ward Packard (as in the automobile),
vied for this honour. Arch-rivals without (much) animosity, the pair would commission from Patek increasingly complex timepieces. Graves requested they
produce for him in the utmost secrecy “the most complicated watch... and, in
any-case, certainly more complicated than that of Mr. Packard!” Astonishingly
given the complexity of the resulting watch, it took only eight years for Patek’s
skilled technicians to design and build.
What was delivered to Graves on 19 th January 1933 was an extraordinary
creation. Weighing 1 lb and 3 ounces, the gold openface minute repeating chronograph clockwatch contains 900 individual parts, 430 screws, 110 wheels, 120
removable parts and 70 jewels. Decorated with the Graves coat of arms
and motto, it incorporates a perpetual calendar (that will not require resetting
for another 100 years or so), moon phases, sidereal time, power reserve, and
sunset and sunrise. With chimes that emulate London’s Big Ben, it also shows

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Timed to Perfection