A name that already hints at its importance, the Imperial Patek Philippe is the Ref.96 Triple Calendar of Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, which will be sold by Phillips this year.
A very rare watch with a very special provenance
As Aurel Bacs of Phillips points out in a Bloomberg article, the clock alone is already so important that it can be considered the highlight of 2023.
The addition of a special provenance such as that of the last emperor of the Qing dynasty is the icing on the cake that crowns this Ref.96 Triple Calendar as the most important to appear at least in the last 20 years.
The history of the Imperial Patek Philippe Ref.96 of Aisin-Gioro Puyi
The last emperor of China didn’t have an easy life, quite the contrary. He was crowned when he was not yet 3 years old but had to abdicate in 1912, just after 4 years of reign. Despite the Chinese Revolution that began that year, he was given the privilege of staying in the Royal Palace until 1924, by which time he was 16 years old.
Also as told by Phillips, there are no traces of when Aisin-Gioro Puyi bought the watch, but we know from the Maison’s archives that construction was completed in 1937. Small note: at the time it was common for a watch to be completed in a certain date and also sold many years later.
Between 1934 and 1945, he was made puppet emperor of the Japanese state of Manchuria, but at the end of the Second World War he was taken prisoner by the Soviets for 5 years. Despite his turbulent life, he managed to retain ownership of this platinum Ref.96 Triple Calendar, even while in prison.
The total production of the Ref.96 triple calendar with moon phases
In those years, complicated wristwatches weren’t the order of the day due to the difficulty of inserting complications in such small and thin cases of the time. Only a handful of brands, including Patek Philippe, ventured into the development of these timepieces. Do you think that 1518 arrived 4 years after this Ref. 96 Triple Calendar.
Currently only 7 specimens have appeared in addition to this one, but only 2 in platinum in the same configuration that belonged to the emperor. One of the latter had been purchased by the Patek Philippe Museum in 2002 for a good 2 million francs, which was a staggering figure for the market at the time. Today it is possible to admire it in Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers 7 in Geneva.
The other model with the same characteristics was purchased in 1996 by a private collector.
The Aisin-Gioro Puyi Ref.96 is a so-called fresh-to-the-market, i.e. a watch that has never been sold publicly or privately. An opportunity therefore more unique than unrepeatable if you add up all the characteristics. Although the conditions are not perfect, in this case it is the origin and the rarity that balance everything.
The Phillips tour will show the watch to the world
Phillips also announced that Aisin-Gioro Puyi’s Patek Philippe Ref.96 will go on a world tour, starting in Hong Kong from March 18 to 31, and extending to the cities of New York, Singapore, London, Taipei and Geneva.
This choice once again denotes the importance of this piece. It’s not every day that you get to see a watch like this.
Conclusions
This year’s auction season is upon us and we are very curious to know which other watches will fight to take the spotlight, after this Patek Philippe Imperiale. What do you think about it? How much will such a historic piece total?
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