Sylvester Stallone’s Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Just Sold for $5.4 Million
Sylvester Stallone’s Patek Philippe had horophiles fighting like Rocky Balboa at Sotheby’s on Wednesday.
The Grandmaster Chime (Ref. 6300G-010) sparked a fierce bidding battle between five bidders at the auction house’s Important Watches sale in New York before it sold to a private Asian collector for $5.4 million. That is the highest price achieved for any modern watch sold at Sotheby’s and makes Sly’s Patek the third most expensive timepiece sold in the auction house’s history.
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The auction included 11 of the legendary actor’s prized timepieces from watchmakers such as Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Piaget. The entire collection sold for a collective $6.7 million, eclipsing the pre-sale high estimate of $6 million. All but one lot shattered the initial high estimates, with the Grandmaster Chime hammering down for $400,000 more than originally expected.
The sale attracted more than 200 bidders, with over 100 in the buzzing saleroom and the rest online. (The buyers will no doubt appreciate Sotheby’s newly reduced premium, which is the lowest across the international auction houses: 20 percent up to $5 million with reductions beyond, as of this writing.) Six of the 11 timepieces sold to online bidders, but not that multi-million dollar Patek.
The Grandmaster Chime was originally released as a limited edition in 2014 to commemorate Patek’s 175th anniversary, after which it was added to the regular catalog as Reference 6300 in 2016. The model is considered the most complicated in the Patek portfolio, with 20 complications including a Grand Sonnerie. The development, production, and assembly of just one example totals an astounding 100,000 hours.
The Grandmaster Chime is an aesthetic marvel, too. The watch features a reversible white-gold case adorned with Patek’s signature hobnail pattern. It also showcases two faces, as many extra complicated watches do: One is focused on timekeeping and sonnerie, and the other is dedicated to the instantaneous perpetual calendar. Stallone’s Ref. 6300 was not only preserved in the original plastic seal but was also accompanied by a grand presentation box engraved with Stallone’s name and a Grandmaster Chime book bearing his name.
“The sale of the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime was an unrepeatable celebration, not only of a masterpiece by the most revered Swiss-watchmakers of technical excellence, but also of the legendary icon that is Sylvester Stallone, who has been a deeply influential and admired collector for many decades,” Geoff Hess, Sotheby’s head of watches, Americas, said in a statement. “To feel the pulse of collectors racing with excitement in pursuit of absolute top-caliber material was tremendous, and an homage to the art of collecting at the highest level.”
Hess himself actually joined the bidding battle, snapping up Stallone’s Patek Philippe Nautilus (Ref. 5711/1300A001) for $492,000. Who knew watch buffs could throw down like Rocky?
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