Watch belonging to China's last emperor fetches $5 million in auction

A wristwatch once owned by China's last emperor attracted more than USD 5million in an auction in Hong Kong on Tuesday (May 23). The Patek Philippe watch is a Ref 96 Quantieme Lune timepiece. It boasts a crown-like moon phase. It originally belonged to Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last monarch of China's Qing dynasty.

Crowned emperor at the age of two in 1908, Puyi was immortalised by Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning film but left a mixed legacy.

After more than 20 years, he was installed as the puppet leader of Japanese-controlled Manchuria. He was captured in 1945 after the fall of Japan in the Second World War and taken to a Soviet prison camp.

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British auction house Phillips said it had documentation that showed Puyi had brought the watch with him to the camp.

Watch belonging to China's last emperor fetches $5 million in auction

It was initially expected that it would fetch about USD 3 million. But after five minutes of what was described as spirited bidding by AFP, the watch was sold for HK$40 Million (USD 5.1 million). The total price with commission, came to about USD 6.2 million.

Thomas Perazzi, Phillips' head of watches in Asia, said he was "thrilled with this groundbreaking sale" because it set records.

Those records included "the highest result of any Patek Philippe reference 96 ever sold", according to a news release.

First 'complication' wristwatch

The Ref 96 -- austere compared to the usual luxury pieces on sale in auction houses -- was the first complication wristwatch serially produced by Patek Philippe. Perazzi said that there were currently only "three examples known" in the world.

As per memoirs of Aisin-Gioro Yuyuan, nephew of Puyi, the watch was a 'personal item of the deposed emperor. He passed it to his Russian interpreter Georgy Permyakov for safekeeping when he left the prison camp.

More than 20 years ago, Russell Working, a journalist who interviewed Permyakov, told AFP that the interpreter, in his advanced age then, had no idea about the value of the timepiece when he pulled it from his drawer.

"To have this one surface all of a sudden after all these years, it was like a treasure chest washing up on the beach," said Working, who was part of the auction house's research team.

Another item was auctioned other than the watch. It was a red paper fan, inscribed with a poem by Puyi dedicated to my comrade Permyakov. It fetched USD 77,800, which was six times the estimate before the sale.

Puyi's watch, while historically significant, is far from the most expensive timepiece ever sold on the auction block.

A Patek Philippe "Grandmaster Chime" sold for $31 million in 2019. It is said to be the most complex timepiece the luxury watchmaker has ever created, with 20 complications.

(With inputs from agencies)

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