Picasso’s classic painting “Woman Sitting by a Window” recently sold at a sky-high price of 800 million Hong Kong dollars at Christie’s in New York, while another precious item belonging to this art master led the auction at Bonhams in Paris, selling for 12 times the estimated price. However, this time it was not a painting by Picasso, but a rare watch that he once wore.
This Pablo Picasso watch was produced by Swiss watch manufacturer Michael Z. Berger around 1960. It is a 32mm stainless steel watch with a round case paired with a stainless steel bracelet, featuring three hands and manual winding. What makes this watch unique is that there are no numbers or hour markers on the dial, but instead, the letters of his name “PABLO PICASSO” are used. It is known that Picasso would wear this watch while painting, and he had a total of 3 watches custom-made at that time.
The leading wristwatch of the Bonhams “Montres et Chronographes de Prestige” auction in Paris, comes from the late Greek sculptor Lela Kanellopoulou, a close friend of Picasso. This watch was consigned for auction by her relatives. The presale estimate for the watch was 12,000 to 18,000 euros. Although far from the auction prices of Picasso’s paintings, this watch ultimately sold for 219,050 euros, achieving a price about 12 times higher than the estimate, still performing well at the auction.
圖片來源：instagram@bonhams1793, Bonhams ,web photo
