Four of Jean-Claude Biver's Patek Philippe watches fetch $8.76 million at auction

The aura around vintage and historically important Patek Philippe timepieces continue to impact sales at auctions. Four Patek Philippe wristwatches, with impeccable provenance, fetched a whopping 8,307,500 Swiss Francs ($8.76 million on current exchange rates) at the Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XI held on June 27-28. The four watches belonged to watch industry legend Jean-Claude Biver and one of the watches, a perpetual calendar chronograph from 1948 alone pulled in about $3.5 million. Biver - Non-Executive President of LVMH Group’s Watch Division and member of the Advisory Board of Phillips Auctions - is a larger-than-life character and one of the most influential people in the watch industry. He is credited with the revival of Blancpain as a haute horology brand, is the man behind Omega’s association with James Bond, he also famously turned Hublot into the flamboyant success it is today. Along the way, Biver also assembled a formidable collection of timepieces.

One watch in particular, the Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 in pink gold is a historical significant reference for collectors and scholars because it was the first perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch ever produced in series. First introduced in 1941, only 281 examples of the Ref. 1518 were made. The majority of them were presented in yellow gold. Most pink gold examples came with silvered dials, so a pink gold case with a pink dial is an absolute rarity; only 13 examples are known with a pink dial. The present watch has appeared on the auction market only for the second time.

Another heavy hitter from Biver’s Patek collection that pulled in the big bucks on Sunday was a yellow gold Ref. 2499 perpetual calendar chronograph. Considered one of the greatest wristwatches every made, Ref. 2499 replaced the Ref. 1518 in 1951. Only 349 pieces were produced over a 35-year period in four series. Very few examples of the second series reference 2499 have surfaced at auctions; scholars only know of 20 examples in yellow gold with applied batons, like the present example. The watch fetched CHF2,600,000 ($2.74 million) at the auction on Sunday, June 28.

Biver’s platinum Ref. 1579 chronograph also breached the million-dollar figure. This watch is believed to be one of only three vintage Patek chronographs cased in platinum. It is unknown why only three made in platinum but all three watches have consecutive serial numbers and different dials, making each piece unique. Biver’s Ref. 1579 is the last of the three made and is the only one with its scale and markers in blue. This watch was hammered for CHF1,940,000 ($2.04 million).

The final watch is the elusive Ref. 96HU World Time wristwatch, believed to be a rare pre-series prototype made in 1937. It was sold for CHF387,500 (Approx. $408,806) on Satuday, June 27. Patek Philippe has a history of making famous world time watches beginning with the Ref. 1415, the first world time wristwatch created in series in 1939. The only other known example of the Ref. 96HU is at the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.