Phillips Sells Five Watches For Over $1-Million At $20-Million Game Changers Auction In New York
The Jack-Nicklaus Rolex Day-Date sold for $1.22-million.
Phillips sold five watches for over $1-million at its Game Changers auction on Tuesday in New York, including Jack Nicklaus’s gold Rolex Day-Date, for $1.22-million, and Marlon Brando’s Rolex GMT-Master, for $1,952,000. The Rolex Ref. 1675 was famously seen on Brando’s wrist in Apocalypse Now and long thought to have been missing.
The Marlon Brando Rolex GMT-Master sold for $1,952,000.
The top price paid in the auction was $2.9-million, for a one-of-a-kind Urwerk AMC (Atomic Mechanical Control) with an atomic clock that connects to a titanium wristwatch. The master clock automatically winds, sets, and regulates the wristwatch, keeping time with a margin of error of one second in 317 years. Urwerk devoted 10 years of research and development to the system.
Urwerk AMC (Atomic Mechanical Control) with an atomic clock that connects to a titanium wristwatch. … [+]
Also selling for over $1-million were two rare early Patek Philippe perpetual calendars, including a rare pink gold Ref. 1518 for ($2.3-million) and a second-series Ref. 2499 with rare round pushers (for $2,024,000).
The TAG Heuer Piece d’Art, a unique stainless steel chronograph.
Bidders from over 50 countries participated in the auction, which totaled $20.2-million. Many of the lots went to benefit charities. The $1.22-million paid for the Nicklaus prized Rolex Day-Date will benefit the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation. A portion of the $1.952 million paid for the Marlon Brando Rolex will be donated to the Brando Fischer Foundation. Additionally, a unique Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time Prototype sold for $106,250, with proceeds going toward the National Geographic Society. A TAG Heuer Monaco Piece d’Art was sold to benefit United Way of New York City. The watch, which sold for $81,250, is a rare automatic chronograph, referred to as “new-old stock” from 1969 (which means it was made in 1969, but never removed from the package). It was unearthed from the TAG Heuer archives and features with an in-house movement engraved by hand.
Vacheron Constantin unique titanium and tantalum Overseas Dual Time worn by Cory Richards on Mount … [+]
Also donated to charity were proceeds from the sale of watches by Richard Mille ($200,000 for a Ref. RM003) and Audemars Piguet ($182,500 for a Royal Oak Concept tourbillon), which will both benefit One Drop. And the sale of another Urwerk, the UR-105 CT Iron worn by Robert Downey, Jr. in Avengers: Endgame, will benefit Random Act Funding, a philanthropic organization founded by Susan and Robert Downey.