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

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” for it.

Antiquorum’s first auction of the 2008 fall season took in nearly $9.9 million for 404 timepieces, it reported. More than 1,000 on-line bidders and viewers used Antiquorum’s online bidding system. About 33 percent of the lots were sold via the Internet. The sale drew bidders from Hong Kong, mainland China, the Russian Federation, Germany, and Italy, as well as the United States.

“The results from today’s auction are confirmation that despite the current erratic economic climate, important timepieces continue to be extremely sought after, highly collectible, and sound tangible investments that have consistently proven to appreciate exponentially over time,” said Robert Maron, Antiquorum chairman.

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

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

JCK