Collecting Watches: World’s Most Expensive

A Wrist Worth Half a Million Dollars?

ABC News
By NICOLA RUIZ
Forbes.com
March 5, 2008

“Over the past few years, prices for this specific watch category have increased dramatically,” says Zimmermann, who estimates that his Rolex watch collection has increased in value at about 15% per annum. But certain pieces have done much better–some of his watches have tripled in price in less than a year.

“No other watch has experienced the kind of phenomenon that vintage Rolexes are going through right now,” says Robert Maron, president of the eponymous Robert Maron Inc., the largest watch dealer in the U.S. “Still, nothing has performed as well as Patek Philippe over the long term. Patek is a safe and proven investment-quality watch that in the last 20 years has only seen increases, while Rolex values have bounced around.”

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The World’s Most Expensive Watches:
– Henry Graves Supercomplication (1932) – Patek Philippe – $11,002,500 – Sold at Sotheby’s in 1999
– Caliber 89 (1989) – Patek Philippe – $5,002,500 – Sold at Antiquorum in 2004
– Platinum World Time (1939) – Patek Philippe – $4,026,524 – Sold at Antiquorum in 2002
– Model 2523 Heures Universelles (1953) – Patek Philippe – $2,899,373 – Sold at Antiquorum in 2006
– Model 2499 First Series (1957) – Patek Philippe, 1957 – $2,280,000 – Sold at Christie’s in 2007
– Model 1591 (1944) – Patek Philippe – $2,263,964 – Sold at Christie’s in 2007
– Model 2499 First Series (1957) – Patek Philippe, 1957 – $2,280,000 – Sold at Christie’s in 2007
– Model 2499 First Series (1951) – Patek Philippe – $2,129,000 – Sold at Antiquorum in 2002
– Grande Complication (1926) – Patek Philippe – $1,980,200 – Sold at Christie’s in 2005
– The Grogan (1925) – Patek Philippe – $1,945,040 – Sold at Christie’s in 2006
– Officier (1923) – Patek Philippe – $1,918,387 – Sold at Antiquorum in 1999