Christie’s auction house is to sell one of King Farouk’s watches on Friday in Dubai, expecting a sale at $400,000 to 800,000, according to Reuters.
The watch is from the king’s rare collection. It was made in 1944 by distinguished designer Patek Philippe. Made of gold, the watch has the old Egyptian royal crest carved into it.
It is believed that the watch is one of the rare such designs. The king’s watch is one of the 281 watches the Swiss designer made as part of his 1518 series.
“Reference 1518 by itself is a watch that at the time only the elite, the nobility, and the most important clients of Patek Philippe would afford,” Remy Julia, head of watches in the Middle East, India, and Africa division at Christie’s in Dubai, told Reuters on the sidelines of a press event to showcase auction items.
“Why? Because of the price and because it was done in an extremely small quantity. Remember that in those days having a watch itself was a luxury. So how about having a gold watch by the best maker, complicated, with perpetual calendar and chronograph,” he added.
Collecting watches was one of King Farouk’s known hobbies. According to Reuters, the 1518 series is the first set of watches to combine a calendar and chronograph inside a watch.
