[Watch House Watch Video] The Patek Philippe collection of the last emperor Puyi is about to be auctioned, and this news has been uploaded on the Internet in March this year, and finally finalized at the end of May at the Fuyis auction in Hong Kong. Friends who know the auction market know that "scarce is expensive" is almost an unshakable iron law. Many of the "sky-high" watches auctioned before are either the only remaining stunners or unique products. Why can Puyi's Patek Philippe be auctioned for tens of millions of yuan, we will talk to you in this video.
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What kind of watch is the "Puyi Patek Philippe" worth 40 million? Regardless of identity, is it worth it? Hi, everyone, in this episode we will talk about the Patek Philippe worn by Puyi, the last emperor of China.
On May 23, after a six-minute fierce bidding at the Fuyis Hong Kong auction, Puyi's Patek Philippe 96QL watch, which was finally commissioned by an Asian collector living in Hong Kong by telephone, was sold for 48.85 million Hong Kong dollars (including commission), about 43.91 million yuan.
This auction news must have been known to all players. So, what is Puyi's Patek Philippe 96? I'm going to tell you more about it today, Patek Philippe 96. And aside from Puyi's identity, is this Patek Philippe 96QL worth it?
Puyi's Patek Philippe 96QL
Now all Patek Philippe are the "descendants" of 96
96, is the first officially numbered watch in the history of Patek Philippe, born in 1932, it can be said that it is the founder of modern Patek Philippe watches. Without the 96, there would be no Patek Philippe now. In 1932, the current operators of Patek Philippe, the Stern family, acquired Patek Philippe (before that, the Stern family made dials for Patek Philippe). The Stern family, after starting to operate Patek Philippe, planned to use a new series of "one shot", this new watch series, is Patek Philippe Cara Zhuohua, and the first watch of Patek Philippe is number 96.
Patek Philippe 96
The birth of the 96 established the basis for the appearance of modern Patek Philippe formal watches. On the 96, Patek Philippe used the popular Bauhaus design concept of the time, that is, function first, remove unnecessary decoration that hinders function, and focus on practicality. So the 96 is what we see now, a standard, sophisticated formal watch.
Patek Philippe 96
Patek Philippe 96, it is a watch with a size of 31 mm and a thickness of 9 mm (a formal watch in history, it is such a small size). In the early days of the 96, Jaeger-LeCoultre calibres were used for a while, after which Patek Philippe developed the 12-120 hand-wound calibre, and the 96 began to gradually replace Patek Philippe's own movements. The 96 was produced from 1932 to 1973, and was produced for more than 40 years.
Patek Philippe 96, using the 12-120 hand-wound movement
There are many types of Patek Philippe 96, and although the appearance of different versions varies greatly, they still use the number 96. We can see: 96 small three needles, is at the birth of 96, the most standard small three needle disc surface, using toffee needles and cannonball word indexes; 96 large three hands, remove the small seconds dial, use the central large second hand; 96 two stitches, the watch second hand is removed.
Patek Philippe 96 small three needles
Patek Philippe 96 big three needles
Patek Philippe 96 two needles
In addition to the difference in pointer layout, there are many types of disk surfaces in the 96. Let's take a look: 96 with Breguet characters; 96 with Sector Dial, the dial has an inner ring, dividing the dial into two parts; The 96 is equipped with a flight dial face, although the 96 is a standard formal watch, but there are also flight watch style versions, using large luminous hands and hour markers, which is very sporty.
Patek Philippe 96 with Breguet lettering
Patek Philippe 96 with Sector Dial
Patek Philippe 96, flight dial face
Having said all this, everyone must be very curious. Putting aside Puyi's identity, is a single 96 full calendar moon phase so valuable? Puyi's Patek Philippe 96 is a full-calendar lunar phase. As mentioned earlier, most of Patek Philippe 96s are "simple watches" with no additional features other than hours, minutes, and seconds. This 96 full calendar lunar phase was produced in the 30s of the last century. There is an important time point here, Patek Philippe only began to produce stable and continuous complex watches in the 1940s. Patek Philippe's first perpetual calendar timer, 1518, was introduced in 1941. Prior to 1940, Patek Philippe produced complex watches only for individual customer needs or in very small quantities. Therefore, putting aside Puyi's historical identity as the last emperor of China, this 96 full calendar moon phase alone is also a very rare Patek Philippe.
Puyi's Patek Philippe 96QL is one of the few 96 complex
Puyi's Patek Philippe 96 full calendar moon phase, using the Victorin Piguet movement. The Victorin Piguet movement factory was the main source of Patek Philippe's early complex watches. Like the first timekeeper, the first split-second and the first minute repeater in Patek Philippe's history, they all use this movement.
Puyi's Patek Philippe 96 full calendar moon phase, using the Victorin Piguet movement
According to the 96 full calendar lunar phases, past transaction records in auction houses such as Christie's and Antigullen. The actual price of the whole calendar lunar phase 96, at a low level, is also more than 3.7 million yuan. The conventional simple 96 has a relatively low value. Usually the value of ordinary 96 is tens of thousands of yuan, about 70,000, 80,000, 90,000. Of course, this is normal, after all, the ordinary 96 is relatively large, the size of 31 mm, in the present, is no longer the size of the men's watch, the value is not so high.
Patek Philippe 96, full calendar lunar phase
Is the Patek Philippe on sale still related to 96?
Of course. From the individual watches, the most direct examples, Patek Philippe 5196, 5296, 5396, these watches, just from the name, can be seen and the historical 96 inheritance relationship. 5196, 5296, 5227 are simple tables, from the appearance can be seen, and the overall design of Patek Philippe 96, very similar. And a complex watch like 5396, aside from complex functions, from the basic design of the watch plate and hands, it can also be clearly seen that the connection with 96. The Patek Philippe Flight Watch 5524 and 5924 included in the sale are actually related to the original version of the 96 Flight Watch.
Patek Philippe 5196 (left) and 5296 (right)
Patek Philippe 5396 (left) and 5524 (right)
From the perspective of the entire Patek Philippe, 96 is the 1 of Patek Philippe modern watches, with this 1, there can be 10, 100, 1000, in order to achieve the Patek Philippe that grows in later generations.
Well, that's it for this episode, bye-bye.