When in 1988, the house Sotheby's was charged with dispersing the collections of Andy Warhol, a few months after his death, their sale in New York will extend over ten days of auction… This compulsive collector bought everything he found beautiful , even if it means never using it.
Like his watches: out of the 300 or more timepieces he owned, he ended up wearing only a few on a daily basis.
It is above all his Cartier Tank Solo in yellow gold, which is still inactive, which remains linked to the myth of the inventor of Pop Art.
"I don't wear a Tank watch to tell me the time,
" he once explained.
I wear a Tank because it's THE watch to wear. ”
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Cindy Ord / Getty Images via AFP
However, all the memories of the multidisciplinary creator of the Factory, master of artistic happening, gain value year after year.
His Cartier Tank has already changed hands, as has his Rolex Oyster Chronograph, sold at Christies in May 2019. A 1943 piece from the catalog of
The Andy Warhol Collection, Jewelry and Watches
, Part II, December 4, 1988. Estimated. between 175,000 and 265,000 euros, it will ultimately be sold for 431,000 euros.
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Christie's
So how much could Andy Warhol's Patek Philippe Calatrava (Ref. 570), with a diameter of 35 mm, in yellow gold, currently sold online by Christie's, be sold?
Often times, watches owned and worn by stars make auctions somewhat unreasonable, such as Picasso's watch recently sold for 220,000 euros in Paris.
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This one appears in the original 1988 catalog of the scattering of the artist's goods (lot 264). If it is also almost wisely estimated between 38,000 and 78,000 euros, it is obvious that it will be auctioned much more. Indeed, between the brand, the model, and of course the origin, it ticks all the boxes of an exceptional collector's watch. Even more, this is a double marking, a feature appreciated by collectors: this Patek Philippe was sold directly by Hausmann & Co to the pop art icon. Its “double-signed” dial therefore displays the retailer's signature. Hausmann & Co was founded in Rome in 1794, and still exists there, in the same premises in the historic center of Rome.
Watches Online: The New York Edition, online sale until June 22
