Christie’s Hong Kong Christie’s recently announced the official launch of an online watch auction, with the English name of the watch auction The Marvelous Sale actually hiding a mystery. Because, in this auction, items related to ‘Marvel’ will be featured for the first time in the auction house, including the Audemars Piguet ‘Black Panther’ Flying Tourbillon, which was released earlier this year and is based on the popular movie, with a starting price of HK$3 to 5 million.
In March of this year, the watch industry welcomed a project that captured the attention of the entire city. Audemars Piguet suddenly announced a groundbreaking collaboration with the extremely popular comic creation unit Marvel, and it will be a long-term development. In April, the two parties first released the first project, launching a joint watch, the Royal Oak Concept “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon, based on the extremely popular masterpiece “Black Panther”, immediately attracting high attention from around the world and the entire watch industry.
Audemars Piguet, always hailed as the high-end watchmaking hall, this time draws inspiration from the aesthetics of the popular Marvel movie “Black Panther” for its new watch, creating a unique design for the brand’s iconic Royal Oak watch. Since the legendary watchmaker Gerald Genta designed it, the Royal Oak has always stood in the watch industry with its high-end watchmaking methods. This time, collaborating with a group of watchmakers once again showcases the brand’s craftsmanship, using titanium metal, sandblasting surface treatment, and a 42mm diameter Black Panther Royal Oak case. As for the bezel, it is made of high-strength ceramic, but the focus of the entire watch is definitely on its dial, featuring a hand-painted 3D portrait of “Black Panther” made entirely of platinum, positioned in the center with signature action and laser-engraved to show the delicate texture of the iconic “vibranium battle suit”. Moreover, the purple exterior combination of the watch subverts the traditional impression of delicate titanium bridges and watches; coupled with this special piece powered by a 2965 manual winding movement providing 72 hours of power reserve, limited to only 250 pieces worldwide, making the watch even more precious.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that, two days after the release event, Audemars Piguet brought a unique piece of the same model “Unique Piece” watch, raising funds for the First Book and Ashoka charities. Ultimately, this special piece was sold for a high price of 5.2 million US dollars, setting a record for the “most expensive Audemars Piguet watch ever”.
In this online auction, in addition to this iconic piece, Christie’s will present another 220 precious lots, ranging from the Royal Oak 5402ST ‘A Series’ with a “Tropical Dial” made by Gérald Genta in 1977, to the Patek Philippe platinum complicated watch 3939 with a double-tone spring minute repeater and tourbillon escapement, to the rare Rolex rose gold model 8171, of which only 6 pieces in the world feature the “HL Mark II Officially Certified Chronometer” designation. Also included are two high-end jewelry watches from Chopard and Piaget, the latter of which is adorned with 94 brilliant-cut marquise-shaped white diamonds (totaling 16 carats) and 43 round
The high-end jewelry watch series with a 16.68 carat ruby. The online auction that officially started this week has already seen multiple bids, with the leading piece, the Audemars Piguet ‘Black Panther’ Flying Tourbillon, currently fetching a bid of $3 million Hong Kong dollars. The auction will end on September 7th, so stay tuned to see how this special AP x Marvel piece will perform.
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of Christie’s & Audemars Piguet
