Pocket watches were the main driver of value at Sotheby’s New York auction that just concluded today. The four most valuable lots of the sale were three pocket watches and one clock, totalling over US$16 million with fees.

Notably, all four were accrued by the late Robert M. Olmsted over more than six decades, along with numerous other pocket watches in the sale. In all the Olmsted Collection brought over US$20 million, underling the late Olmsted’s discerning eye.

The top lot was the most complicated watch ever made by Audemars Piguet, dubbed “Grosse Pièce” for its size. The oversized watch set a record for the brand, selling for just over US$7.7 million including fees.

It seemed a rising tide lifted all boats as many other pocket watches in the sale, including those from brands with little cachet today, blew past their high estimates.

The big results included a 1930s school watch with a flying tourbillon by German watchmaker Heinz Eberhard that sold for US$355,600 and an oversized tourbillon clockwatch by Charles Frodsham that sold for US$1.12 million. Interestingly, many of these pocket watches went to the same paddle.

Patek Philippe

The “Grosse Pièce” wasn’t the first timepiece in the sale to clear seven figures. That distinction went to lot 32, a previously unknown Patek Philippe paperweight desk clock made for Thomas Emery, which sold for US$2.73 million.

It is one of only three known Patek Philippe desk clocks of this type, with the other two – made for Henry Graves Jr and James Ward Packard – in the Patek Philippe Museum. Coincidentally, Patek Philippe launched a modern equivalent earlier this year that costs half as much as Emery’s clock, making the latter something of a bargain in comparison.

Stronger still were the results for a pair of dual movement watches made by Patek Philippe for John M. Morehead III, both with matching doré dials. The dynamic duo both have a minute repeating base movement and a secondary three-hand movement on the dial side; larger of the two also includes a split-seconds chronograph.

The importance of the pair was evident. Not only were there more than half a dozen bidders for each of them, key players in the world of vintage Patek Philippe were all in on the action.

Despite the strong interest, one buyer triumphed with determined, decisive bidding. The pair will stay together as the same phone bidder won both – the larger for US$3.7 million and the smaller for just under US$2.5 million. That puts both among the most expensive pocket watches sold at auction.

Like the “Grosse Pièce”, both double-movement watches will reside in arguably the most appropriate collection for them.

Grosse AP

By value, the most important lot of the entire auction watch the S. Smith & Son Astronomical Watch, made by Audemars Piguet and better known as the “Grosse Pièce”.

At the time of its making, Audemars Piguet was something of a high-end private label manufacturer, making complicated – mostly chiming – watches for other brands, including prestigious London retailers like S. Smith & Son or J.W. Benson.

The Grosse Pièce is the only (known) watch from Audemars Piguet with a tourbillon or a planisphere, and is perhaps the most complicated watch made by the firm. It is worth noting the centrepiece of Audemars Piguet’s museum is another very complicated watch, Union Glashutte Universal-Uhr, which was made from one of three Louis-Elysee Piguet ebauches that Audemars Piguet supplied to Glashutte in 1899.

The Grosse Pièce can be seen as Audemars Piguet’s equivalent to Patek Philippe’s Henry Graves Supercomplication. Unsurprisingly, bidding was fast and competitive, blowing past the US$1 million estimate in seconds. It came down to a three-way struggle, between two phone bidders and Davide Parmegiani, one of the world’s preeminent dealers in vintage timepieces, who was sitting right in front of the auctioneer.

The watch finally hammered for US$6.3 million, which is US$7.736 million after fees, going to the phone bidder represented by Rich Fordon of Sotheby’s New York.

The sum exceeds the brand’s previous record of US$5.2 million for a Royal Oak Concept “Black Panther” sold during a 2021 online charity auction.