Despite the market’s strong performance when it comes to brand-new watches in Australia, it’s rare to see special pre-owned or vintage watches sold at auction down under. This could be set to change with the upcoming sale of an extremely unusual and collectable Patek Philippe ref 1436, which could well set a record for the highest price paid for a watch at an Australian auction.
The watch has been consigned to the team at First State Auctions — a sales house best known for proceeds of crime and jewellery brand liquidation sales — and is one of only ~140 examples of the reference ever produced, with this example manufactured in 1946 and eventually sold in October 1949. Despite First State Auctions’ typical consigners, this ref. 1436 in yellow gold has arrived on the market via a private individual with an estimate of between $400,000 and $800,000.
After making its debut in 1938, the ref. 1436 was in production until 1971 and was available in pink gold, yellow gold, and steel. As was common at the time, it featured a modestly proportioned 33mm case, housing the coveted split-seconds Patek calibre 13-130 CCR.
As some accurate benchmarking of this Patek Philippe reference, the three most recent examples have been sold by Christie’s in Hong Kong. The latest sold in May of this year for $320,884 (HKD 1,638,000), while in May 2021 a Gübelin-signed example sold for $916,850 (HKD 5,500,000) — which earned a premium for its double signature.
The highest price ever paid for a ref. 1436 was in November 2021 (First State Auctions have cheekily used this as a pricing benchmark), when an example owned by Henry Graves Jr. sold for $2,421,000 (HKD 13,450,000). Not only is Henry Graves Jr. arguably the most important watch collector of the 20th century, giving the watch truly peerless provenance, but the watch market was still climbing toward its May 2022 peak, inflating prices more than you might expect today.
While describing the sale as, “an unbelievable opportunity to acquire the timepiece at just one-sixth of the previous record price,” enjoys some creative licence, it’s still a genuinely rare watch that should perform well. The previous record for a watch sold in Australia was $306,000, so if this Patek Philippe ref 1436 is able to hit its low estimate, a new Australian auction benchmark will be set.
The watch will be sold online next week between November 13th and 19th, so if you’re keen to help set a new Australian watch market benchmark, take a closer look.
