Inside The Sale Of The Record-Obliterating $31 Million Patek Philippe

When the bidding for the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime reference 6300A reached 18 million Swiss francs, there should have been pandemonium. It is the sort of momentous occasion that warrants a balloon drop, cannons firing confetti, or a Gatorade bath. Instead, over the weekend in Geveva, at the Only Watch auction held in conjunction with the auction house Christie’s, the room was relatively tepid. The milestone was met with scattered applause, a few whistles that floated up from the back of the room from shy catcallers, and Only Watch founder Luc Pettavino, wearing a suit the blue of a perfectly cloudless day, dipped his face into his hands in disbelief. The Patek Philippe had just swiped the crown of most-expensive wristwatch from Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona, which sold for $17.8 million in the winter of 2017. “I thought there would be more excitement when the auction hit 18 million,” says Eric Wind, a watch dealer who formerly worked for Christie’s and was in the room for this auction, “but people were sort of already expecting that.” Read more at GQ.