Displaying items by tag: watch

A watch given to Sir Winston Churchill to celebrate victory in the Second World War, proclaiming him a “happy warrior” and likening him to St George, is to be sold at auction for up to £100,000.

The watch, commissioned by a group of “prominent Swiss citizens”, was one of four given to leaders including Charles de Gaulle, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman, to commemorate VE Day.

What is luxury? A watch, a couture dress, a crown? Or is it having control over space, time, privacy? Is the notion of luxury changing over time?

A new exhibition, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London together with the Crafts Council, asks these very questions. (In fact, it’s called What Is Luxury?) The works showcased help illuminate the way we use and perceive luxury today, and how that might change in the future.

“We realized when we started researching the project that on the one hand, everyone has a relationship to luxury and its own definition of it,” says Leanne Wierzba, V&A/Winchester School of Art research fellow and co-curator of the show.

The Henry Graves Jr. Supercomplication, has sold at Sotheby’s, Geneva, for a record-breaking $24 million (which includes the buyer’s premium).

With 24 complications, it has previously been styled as the most famous watch in the world, but it comes with a very human story attached and illustrates how the Swiss watch industry worked in the early 20th century.

The watch is the result of a competition between two phenomenally wealthy men: Henry Graves, a New York banker, and James Ward Packard, a car manufacturer from Warren, Ohio.

Sotheby’s announced today that it will be honoured to present for sale The Henry Graves Supercomplication in Geneva on 14 November 2014. Made by Patek Philippe in 1933, this masterpiece of horology is the most famous watch in the world and the most complicated watch ever made completely by human hand. Its reappearance on the market, 15 years after its record sale, will coincide with Patek Philippe’s 175th anniversary celebrations and will be a fitting tribute to the genius of the Swiss manufacturer. The watch will be offered in Sotheby’s Geneva sale of Important Watches with an estimate in excess of CHF 15 million.

Discussing the forthcoming sale of the Henry Graves Supercomplication, Tim Bourne, Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Watches, and Daryn Schnipper, Chairman of Sotheby’s Watch Division, said: “The list of superlatives which can be attached to this icon of the 20th century is truly extraordinary. Indisputably the “Holy Grail” of watches, The Henry Graves Supercomplication combines the Renaissance ideal of the unity of beauty and craftsmanship with the apogee of science. Our offering of this horological work of art in 1999 was unquestionably the highlight of our professional careers and set a world record which has held until today. We are extremely privileged to be offering it once again.”

During the holiday season donations to Goodwill start pouring in; one location in Federal Way, Washington got more than they bargained for this year. A signed etching by the pioneering Surrealist artist, Salvador Dali, was dropped off by an anonymous donor and quickly identified by employee, Shea Munroe. The piece was added to Goodwill’s online auction system for a mere $999 and the price has continued to soar. It is currently listed on the organization’s auction site at $18,525. The auction ends tonight, November 19, at 7:30 p.m. PST.

Authenticated by Period House Appraisal Service in Tacoma, the framed color etching titled, Reflections, is from the artist’s The Cycles of Life Suite and features one of Dali’s famous melting watches. Signed and numbered “126/150,” the piece is also labeled as an “etching and photolithography from collage.” Although the work’s paper is slightly warped due to humidity and there is some discoloration to one part of the matting and a few scratches and scuffs to the glass and frame, the etching will undoubtedly sell for an impressive price.

Goodwill trains their employees to look for potentially high-value items and asks that they put aside any signed items or pieces with paperwork attached. Other valuable items that have appeared on the Goodwill auction site are a Rolex watch that sold for $900, a diamond ring that reached $12,000, and a Frank Weston Benson watercolor that fetched $165,002 in 2006, the most valuable piece to sell online to date.