The fastest and most secure way to protect the watches and jewelry you love.
We've minimized the paperwork and maximized protection, so you can stop worrying about your watches and jewelry and focus on enjoying them. Butt Welding Machine
In most cases, you'll get a personalized quote in seconds and your policy kicks in immediately.
Wherever you are on planet Earth, your watches and jewelry are protected. Rest easy and travel safely.
If you suffer a covered loss, there's no deductible and no gimmicks. Ever.
Each of your watches and jewelry is covered up to 150% of the insured value (up to the total value of the policy).
Our quotes are based on historical sales and real-time market data allowing us to give fair prices without all the hassle.
The fastest and most secure way to protect the watches and jewelry you love.
We've minimized the paperwork and maximized protection, so you can stop worrying about your watches and jewelry and focus on enjoying them.
In most cases, you'll get a personalized quote in seconds and your policy kicks in immediately.
Wherever you are on planet Earth, your watches and jewelry are protected. Rest easy and travel safely.
If you suffer a covered loss, there's no deductible and no gimmicks. Ever.
Each of your watches and jewelry is covered up to 150% of the insured value (up to the total value of the policy).
Our quotes are based on historical sales and real-time market data allowing us to give fair prices without all the hassle.
The fastest and most secure way to protect the watches and jewelry you love.
We've minimized the paperwork and maximized protection, so you can stop worrying about your watches and jewelry and focus on enjoying them.
In most cases, you'll get a personalized quote in seconds and your policy kicks in immediately.
Wherever you are on planet Earth, your watches and jewelry are protected. Rest easy and travel safely.
If you suffer a covered loss, there's no deductible and no gimmicks. Ever.
Each of your watches and jewelry is covered up to 150% of the insured value (up to the total value of the policy).
Our quotes are based on historical sales and real-time market data allowing us to give fair prices without all the hassle.
Introducing Citizen Celebrates 35 Years Of The Promaster With A Limited Edition Trio For Land, Air, And Sea
Gift Guide For The Dad With A Taste For The Finer Things
Introducing Hublot's First Collaboration With Artist Daniel Arsham Is A Droplet-Shaped Pocket Watch
How To Wear It The Cartier Tank Cintrée
In-Depth Examining Value And Price Over Time With The ‘No Date’ Rolex Submariner
Watches In The Wild The Road Through America, Episode 1: A Model Of Mass Production
Giving a whole new meaning to 'bejeweled.'
There's bespoke, and then there's this: A custom-order Patek Philippe that uses a 13.43 carat portrait-cut diamond as its crystal. It'll be on sale at Christie's Dubai online watch auction beginning October 5 with an estimate of $1–2 million.
The unique Patek Philippe that uses a lasque diamond as its crystal.
A client ordered this one-of-a-kind Patek in 1990, supplying the lasque diamond for use. Patek created a custom white gold case and integrated bracelet to fit the diamond, giving it the unique reference 3843/1. According to Christie's it's the third-largest lasque diamond known (the largest is 27 carats and is used to cover a miniature portrait of Czar Alexander I of Russia). Lasque, or portrait-cut diamonds, are transparent and flat, then polished and faceted on the sides.
I wish I were able to physically experience the effect of this massive diamond being used as a crystal. Christie's quotes jewelry historian Diana Scarisbrick, explaining that "the reflections of the facets illuminate the portrait, the highly polished limpid surface lets the subject shine through with much more brilliance than crystal." Enjoy with me a few photos of this effect, surely failing to truly capture the beauty of this crystal:
There are diamond-studded watches, and then there's this. This Patek is the only timepiece known to use a lasque diamond as the crystal (watch and jewelry makers out there: can one of you please try a second?). In 2014, we did feature a unique titanium Patek that used a 9.44-carat diamond for its caseback, nicknamed the Flawless Officer.
Underneath the diamond crystal is a sunburst blue dial made of gold by Stern Frères. White gold indices are scattered around the asymmetrical dial. The diamond's triangular shape is matched by a custom 18k white gold case, crafted by Genevan casemaker Atelier Réunis. In addition to the unique reference number, the caseback is also engraved with the lasque diamond's carat weight. The case is paired with a white gold mesh bracelet. The Patek 3843/1 also comes with a digital Certificate of Origin dating its sale to 1994 and is signed by Philippe Stern notating it as a pièce unique.
When I first saw this watch, it felt reminiscent of some of Gilbert Albert's asymmetrical designs or Patek's bold integrated bracelet watches of the '70s, a few of which Malaika recently featured. It's cool to see Patek revisit some of its more audacious designs a few decades later.
This watch last sold at Christie's Hong Kong in 2016 for about $445,000. A year before that, it sold for just under $100,000 at a smaller Japanese auction house, also in Hong Kong. Seven years later, Christie's Dubai will take its turn, placing an estimate of $1–2 million. The market for a unique, asymmetrical Patek with a diamond crystal is surely small, but we'll see if Christie's strong marketing, along with placing it in a different market, can bring the watch a bigger result than it saw last time at auction.
Christie's Watches Online: Dubai Edit will be an online auction open for bidding from October 5–19. For more information, visit the auction page.
Auctions Sylvester Stallone's Grandmaster Chime Sells For $5.4 Million, Evaluating Vintage Patek Philippe Condition, And More From New York
Staff Picks The Watches We Wish Were Our Dads
Hands-On The Timex x The James Brand GMT
Introducing The Audemars Piguet Mini Royal Oak
Auctions Sylvester Stallone's Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Leads New York Auction Week
Gift Guide Our Top Picks For The Dad With A Taste For Adventure
Hands-On The VPC Type 37HW
Introducing Oris Turns The Divers Sixty-Five All-Black For Its 2024 Hölstein Edition
Enter the World of Hodinkee
All the watches you need to know about, delivered to your inbox daily.
Enter the World of Hodinkee
Mini Laser Engraver All the watches you need to know about, delivered to your inbox daily.