Christie's sold this stunningly beautiful chronograph on May 10, 2010 for a record setting $5.6 Million. This is a most unusual Patek Philippe with a fascinating history, or lack thereof–depending on how you look at it.
There is something very strange and unusual about this watch. According to the provenance, it just kind of showed-up from out of nowhere, and it was recorded as being last seen at auction 20 years ago.
According to the Patek Philippe's exhaustive research, this watch was made in 1943 and completed in 1944, and originally sold on August 22, 1946. This watch is bizarre in so many ways. First and foremost, it is perplexing to understand it was designed and built in Switzerland during World War II.
In other words, this watch was completed while Adolf Hitler was still alive and running Nazi Germany, and tucked away in Switzerland there was some master Patek Philippe watchmaker engineering this magnificent and timeless beauty.
Out Of Time
If anybody else but Patek Philippe confirmed the design and build date of this watch I would not believe them. This watch is considered to be one-of-a-kind, and thus it is perhaps a prototype or a custom-watch. It almost appears that somebody in 1943 had a time machine and went 10 years into the future and saw this design and brought it back in time. Somehow the ultra-timeless nature of this design does not jibe!!!