Way back when, in November 2015, Ben wrote a little story about the highlights of the Christie’s Geneva sale. You might recall that there was one watch in particular that caught our eye: the Patek Philippe reference 2497 with black gilt dial. It was the first time that a black gilt dial 2497 had hit the market – for an estimate of CHF 500,000 to 1 million – and the auction world was abuzz. On top of being totally fresh to market, the watch had a rich provenance (literally) as it formerly belonged to Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, who later gifted it to a friend (as one does). A descendent of this friend was the consignor and listed it with Christie’s – and that is where things got sticky.
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