Einstein’s Watch Fetches 2,000% Over Estimate

By William George Shuster -- JCK Online, 12/1/2008 2:00:00 AM

A watch owned by famed physicist Albert Einstein sold for $596,000, 2,000 percent over its pre-auction estimate, at Antiquorum Auctioneers’ Oct. 16 Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, Pocket Watches & Clocks sale.

The sale of Einstein’s timepiece—made in 1930 and presented to him in 1931—set a world record for a Longines wristwatch at auction and capped a round of what Antiquorum called “frenzied bidding.”

Antiquorum’s first auction of the 2008 fall season took in nearly $9.9 million for 404 timepieces, it reported. About 33 percent of the lots were sold via the Internet.

Also noteworthy was the sale of a 1956 yellow gold Patek Philippe watch for more than $1.5 mil-lion. Vacheron Constantin also did well with a Malte Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeater that sold for $260,000 and a Skeleton Minute Repeater in rose gold that went for $282,400.

A Rolex Black Diamond Dial Datejust sold for $72,000, and a platinum Day Date watch went for $78,000, both world records for those models.