Phillips to Auction Last Qing Emperor’s Patek Philippe Watch
Aisin-Gioro Puyi left the timepiece and other treasures to his Russian translator, a companion during his confinement in Siberia by the Soviets. It will be auctioned by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo.
The Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune. Only eight versions were made, and a mere three had this dial configuration. The last to come to auction was purchased by Patek Philippe itself for $2 million in 2003.
Source: Phillips
A Patek Philippe watch owned by the last emperor of China’s Qing dynasty, and worn through his five years as a captive of the Soviets in Siberia, will come to auction later this year. Based on similar sales in the past, it could very easily gavel for a price in the seven figures.
Aisin-Gioro Puyi, crowned in 1908 when he wasn’t quite 3 years old, had to abdicate the throne in 1912 during the Chinese Revolution. He was allowed to retain his title and continued live lavishly in the palace until 1924, when he was forced to leave during a coup. It’s not known when or how Puyi obtained the watch, which was finished by Patek Philippe in 1937, but it was sometime during the period that he was Japan’s puppet emperor of the state of Manchuria, or Manchukuo, from 1934 to 1945. At the end of World War II, the Soviets took him captive as he tried to flee Manchuria and kept him in captivity for five years. He managed to keep his watch throughout his turbulent life after abdication, even while he was imprisoned.