If you’ve followed some of the gossip surrounding the Qatari sheik who put up his treasures to satisfy some debts to Sotheby’s, you’ll have heard of the Patek Philppe watch that is the subject of Stacy Perman’s new book, A Grand Complication.
Here’s what Bloomberg’s Katya Kazakina reported about the watch in November:
Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al-Thani, a cousin of the Emir of Qatar, provided Sotheby’s with items from diamond jewelry to tribal art and four vintage watches made by Patek Philippe of Geneva, Switzerland, the auction house said in an Oct. 12 filing with the New York Department of State. The timepieces include a pocket watch known as the Henry Graves Supercomplication, which an anonymous bidder bought for a record $11 million in a Sotheby’s auction in 1999.
Qatar Sheikh Pledges Most Expensive Watch to Sotheby’s (Bloomberg)