Vintage Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Sells For $200,000 USD at Bonhams Paris Watch Auction
The early stainless steel Royal Oak perpetual calendar was one of just 49 made.
An early Audemars Piguet Royal Oak perpetual calendar sold for twice its estimate at Bonhams’ latest auction in Paris.
The D Series 25554ST.00.0344ST.01 from 1985 sold for €175,313 (approximately $200,000 USD), twice its pre-sale estimate.
The watch was one of only 49 examples made in stainless steel, using a movement that saw a QP module added to a Jaeger-LeCoultre Cal.920 automatic.
Other highlights of the sale – which was the first time the auction house has staged a watch and car sale side-by-side in the French capital – included two rare Laurent Ferrier watches; a double balance spring Galet Classic Tourbillon from 2010 (approximately $93,200 USD) and a 2014 Galet Classic (approximately $43,200 USD).
Two vintage Patek Philippe pieces also performed well, with a 1935 Reference 96 double-signed by Roman jeweler Hausmann and Co, which had been owned by the same family since new, achieving €75,313 ($86,100 USD) and a 1970 18K yellow gold Calatrava Reference 3445, the brand’s first automatic model with a date complication, selling for €22,813 ($26,100 USD)
A eye-catching and rare 1970 18K gold Cartier Bamboo Coussin also illustrated that the appetite for vintage Cartier continues to build, achieving €19,063 ($21,800 USD).
Jonathan Darracott, Bonhams Global Head of Watches, said: “Our decision to make Paris a European hub for watch sales is proving to be a great success. This has been our best sale to date and we are delighted with these results.”
In other watch news, Artisans de Genève’s latest Rolex transformation inspired by Luc Besson classic.
