One of the World’s Rarest Watches Is Coming to Auction in May

There are watches, and then there are watches. The 1953 Patek Philippe Ref. 2523 Heures Universelles belongs firmly to the second category, so exceptionally rare that its appearance at Phillips’ Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII this May should qualify as a horological event. The reference coming to auction is an 18k yellow gold example with a polychrome cloisonné enamel South America dial—one of only two known to exist in yellow gold and one of only three embellished with the polychrome enamel map of South America. It was last seen at auction in 1988, the only time this Ref. 2523 variant has come to the block, until now.

The Heures Universelles, or world time, wristwatch is the invention of Louis Cottier, a Genevan watchmaker who developed his mechanism in the early 1930s to solve what was then a real challenge: how to display Sir Sandford Fleming’s 24 time zones—which contrary to popular belief were not codified by the 1884 International Prime Meridian Conference—simultaneously in one timepiece. Cottier’s answer was a system of rotating city rings that allowed the wearer to read the time anywhere on earth at a glance. Patek Philippe recognized the utility of this world time mechanism immediately, and by 1937, had partnered with Cottier to produce its prototype Heures Universelles, the rectangular Ref. 515 HU (of which just three or four were made) and the Ref. 96 HU (of which only two were made).

The Ref. 2523 came decades later, the second generation of Patek Philippe’s serially produced world-time offerings, succeeding the Ref. 1415. “Serially produced,” of course, is a term that demands context: across all variants—yellow gold, pink gold, white gold and the prized enamel-dialed versions—only approximately 29 examples were ever made. Three geographic map designs are known across the Ref. 2523’s enamel variants: Eurasia, North America and South America; the latter of which is thought to be the rarest of the three.

Auction records for this reference suggest the timepiece going on the block in Geneva will outperform estimates. A “Silk Road” cloisonné enamel Ref. 2523 achieved $7.8 million in 2021—the highest price ever realized at auction for a yellow gold wristwatch. A blue enamel example signed by Gobbi Milan sold for $8.97 million at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2019, setting a record at the time for the most expensive watch ever sold in Asia.

Collectors serious about horology and horological history, or simply about owning one of the finest and rarest objects produced in the 20th Century, will no doubt be keeping a close eye on this auction. Opportunities like this don’t come around very often, and this timepiece in particular may never come to the block again.

More in Auctions

• Luxury Auctions Surged Last Year, With Jewelry, Ferrari and Hermès Driving Record Results

• Across the Major Houses, Hong Kong’s March Sales Confirm a New Collecting Maturity

• The First Jim Irsay Collection Sale Sets 23 World Auction Records

• Sotheby’s Opens the London Spring Marquee Sales With a £131M White-Glove Night

• Are Banksy Prints Still Worth It After the Boom and Bust?