Patek Philippe

Created specially for the Only Watch auction, the Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A is the most complicated Patek Phillipe watch ever made.

Earlier this month, a one-of-a-kind Patek Phillipe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A fetched a whopping US$31 million (approximately RM129 million) at the Only Watch auction in Geneva, officially making it the most expensive watch in the world.

The new world record dethrones the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Jr. Supercomplication, a pocketwatch which sold for US$24 million at the Sotheby’s auction in 2014. It also trumps the Paul Newman Rolex Daytona, which formerly held the title of most expensive wristwatch after it sold for US$17.7 million at a Phillips auction in 2017.

Created specially for Only Watch – a charity auction whereby top manufacturers donate special one-off editions to raise funds for research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy – the Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A is the only watch that will be made in stainless steel. Above and beyond that, it is the most complicated Patek Phillipe watch ever made.

For starters, the watch features four spring barrels driving 20 complications, including a grande and petite sonnerie, minute repeater, moonphase display, instantaneous perpetual calendar with a four-digit year display, second time zone, day/night indicator and dials for the day and date.

Plus, it’s reversible – an extraordinary feat for a watch of this many attributes. On one side is a sleek black dial and on the other is a salmon-coloured dial etched with the words “The Only One”. According to the Manufacturer, it took about 10,000 man hours to develop the watch.

It is uncertain who took home the watch when the hammer went down, but she certainly earned a once in a lifetime timepiece for keeps – and raised the bar for future collectibles at that.

Photos: Patek Philippe