香港時間星期六晚，由富藝斯 Phillips 鐘錶部門（Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo）呈獻，以賽車主題舉行的《Racing Pulse》經典腕錶拍賣，全場焦點之最，由 Tag Heuer 贊助已故荷里活型男 Steve McQueen 在1971年代表作《Le Mans》亮相的標誌性 Monaco腕錶，剛剛以$1,800,000美元（連佣價價錢已更新，請見底部） – 折合接近港幣$1,400萬 – 成交，寫下該枚 Monaco 系列腕錶的記錄，並同時打破 TAG Heuer 自成立以來最高價成交腕錶的記錄。
At the auction held by Phillips London, before the start of the auction, a special short film was played, in which the original owner and Steve McQueen’s mechanic for the Porsche 917 KH race car in “Le Mans,” Haig Alltounian, shared the stories behind some of the watches. The watches were not given a public estimate before being auctioned, with the auctioneer announcing an opening bid of $160,000. After about ten bids, the price had already exceeded $300,000. The watch hovered for a while after a bid of $320,000, and just as the auctioneer was about to bring down the hammer as a “Fair Warning,” a sudden bid of $80,000 came in, causing the watch to immediately rise to $400,000.
Afterwards, the auction was mainly led by three key commissioners from Phillips, with Livia Russo from Phillips Watches partnering with Bacs & Russo, Arthur Touchot from Phillips Digital Strategy Department, and international commissioner James Marks forming a fierce competition. When the bidding reached $480,000, after several rounds of bidding, the price had risen to the astonishing figure of $850,000. Subsequently, James Marks and Livia Russo continued to bid back and forth with increments of $50,000, until James Marks bid $1,300,000, and then Livia Russo suddenly bid $100,000 over the phone on behalf of the consignor, making the auction even more intense.
Finally, there was another round of bidding between James Marks and Livia Russo, with Arthur Touchot suddenly joining the battle at $1,500,000 USD, continuing to bid with a “one hundred thousand at a time” strategy. In the end, James Marks, with a strong determination to win, raised the price to $1,800,000 USD. With no further bids from the other two specialists, he won the auctioneer’s hammer, and it was announced that the Monaco piece had broken TAG Heuer’s previous sales record. At that moment, it also significantly surpassed the highest selling price of the Patek Philippe extremely rare platinum perpetual calendar Ref. 3974G-001 at the same auction.
This Monaco is so precious not only because it was chosen by Steve McQueen himself in “Le Mans”, and it is one of the last 6 owned by Steve McQueen, but also because of the story when Steve McQueen gave the watch to Haig Alltounian that day. If you want to know the ins and outs of the story behind it, you might as well read the detailed introduction here.
[Update] The Heuer Monaco finally sold for $2,208,000 (including commission), equivalent to about $17.11 million Hong Kong dollars.
