Recently, a watch sold for $6.2 million at an auction in Hong Kong attracted the attention of major Chinese and foreign media and governments.
The reason for the attention is not the price at which the watch was auctioned, but because its owner was the last emperor of China, Aisin Kyoro Puyi.
Equipped with an Arabic numeral dial, rose gold hands and a "moon phase" function, this 1.2-inch diameter platinum watch shows the moon's visibility from Earth at any given time.
It is impossible to verify how Puyi obtained it, and it was originally sold through a luxury store in Paris.
Puyi gave it to Permyakov in Siberia, his mentor and Russian translator, who spoke fluent Mandarin.
The film "The Last Emperor", based on Puyi's deeds, won an Oscar in 1987.
He ascended the throne in 1908 as a toddler, but was forced to abdicate less than four years after a republican rebellion overthrew the Qing dynasty. He was allowed to continue living in the imperial palace in Beijing and was briefly restored as emperor in 1917.
In 1924, he fled Beijing and allied himself with Japan, which later installed him as emperor of Manchukuo, a puppet state in northeastern Manchuria.
After Japan's defeat in World War II, he was captured by the Soviet army and imprisoned as a prisoner of war.
The watch was taken to Siberia with its owner while in Soviet custody, and Puyi gave it to Permyakov in 1950 before returning to China to face a war crimes trial.
Nearly a decade after returning to China, Puyi was pardoned and lived a civilian life in Beijing until her death in 1967.
Phillips spent three years researching the history of the item, assembling an unprecedented team of watch experts, historians, journalists and scientists from around the world.
Puyi's nephew Yu Yan said in his memoirs that his uncle wore watches "every day" when he was in Manchukuo; My uncle once gave me the watch, but then asked to return it so that it could be given to Permiyakov.
Permyakov kept the watch until his death in 2005, passed to his heirs, and then entrusted to Phillips by its current owner in 2019.
The watch is sold along with several other items from Puyi's past. Among them were 15 watercolours by Puyi's brother-in-law, Goblo Runchi, and a red paper fan also presented to Permyakov with a poem inscribed by the former emperor.
After the auction, the watches will be exhibited at a two-day watch auction in Phillips.
Among the auction items, there is also a limited edition Omega Speedmaster Apollo XI 1969; He was presented to NASA astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., the third person ever to walk on the moon.
Although the little snail did not have the opportunity to participate in the auction, he felt that this watch was designed quite special, and shared it with the masses to take a look together; Have a favorite friend? ~ [Send heart][Melon-eating masses]