With the average cost of an Auckland house sitting at almost $830,000 as of May 2015, a recent Christie’s auction has seen a seemingly basic watch sold for over $860,000.
The timepiece is a rare Vacheron Constantin minute repeater with a platinum case and a silver satin dial that sat as the top lot in Christie’s Rare Watches and Exceptional Complications auction. While it appears to be an incredibly simplistic design, minute repeaters are prized by watch collectors because of the work it takes to make them.
Pressing a button activates an extremely intricate mechanism that will tell the wearer what time it is with chimes. The watch sold at auction is from 1951, and after 65 years still sounds great.
