Clapton platinum watch nets $3.6 million at auction

[MutteringJohn]

For $3.6 million Cream better show up in my living room with the ghost of George Harrison.

GENEVA (Reuters) - An Asian collector bought a platinum chronograph Patek Philippe wristwatch owned by British rock guitarist Eric Clapton for 3.44 million Swiss francs ($3.63 million) at auction on Monday, Christie's said.
The "ultra-rare" reference 2499/100 by the Swiss luxury watchmaker, one of only two cased in platinum, was acquired by Clapton some 10 years ago, it said.
It fetched a combined hammer price and commission that was in line with Christie's pre-sale estimate of 2.5-4.0 million francs while also setting a world record price for this reference at auction, it said in a statement on its semi-annual Geneva sale.
"The Eric Clapton watch was bought by an Asian private collector," Christie's spokesman Cristiano de Lorenzo told Reuters, adding that the buyer had been in the room.
But the top lot at the seven-hour sale was another platinum chronograph Patek Philippe, reference 2458, made in 1952 for legendary American collector J.B. Champion. It fetched nearly 3.78 million Swiss francs and set a world record for a watch without complications, or features beyond the display of hours, minutes and seconds, it said.
Precious Time, an investment watch fund launched by Luxembourg-based Elite Advisers, was the buyer, Christie's said in a statement.
In all, 96 percent of the 315 lots on offer found new owners, netting 27.04 million Swiss francs ($28.52 million), the auction house owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault said.
Clapton's Patek Philippe, made in the Swiss city in 1987, has a perpetual calendar with moon phases, as well as windows for day and month and dials for seconds and minutes.
Most experts would rank it among the world's 10 most significant wristwatches that stand out for historical importance, mechanical complexity, beauty, original condition, rarity and superior provenance, Aurel Bacs, international head of Christie's watch department, said before conducting the sale.
Clapton, the former Cream musician, last year sold more than 70 of his guitars at a charity auction in New York, raising $2.15 million for the Crossroads Centre drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre that he founded in Antigua.
Last month in London he sold an abstract painting by German artist Gerhard Richter at rival Sotheby's for $34.2 million, setting a new record for the price paid at auction for the work of a living artist.
Antiquorum's sale of modern and vintage timepieces, held in Geneva on Sunday evening, netted 8.63 million Swiss francs ($9.10 million) for 485 lots sold out of 613 on offer, it said in a statement issued on Monday,
The top lot was a Rolex Single Red Prototype, known as the Sea Dweller Submariner, one of only six produced in 1967 for use by divers. It sold for 490,900 Swiss francs -- four time its pre-sale estimate - in its first appearance at auction.
"It is the highest price ever paid for a Rolex sport watch and for a Sea Dweller," Antiquorum said.
($1 = 0.9482 Swiss francs)

[Brokenbad]

Sounds like Clapton's back on the horse.

[Tom Doyers]

I seemed to have stumbled upon some faggotry.
Oh, it is just Muttering John turning Dawg's into a personal news blog again.

[MutteringJohn]

I just pick stories that Robin would report in Robin's news or something Howard would comment on. Is starting a thread on General Patreus any more interesting. WGAS if he cheated on his wife. Clinton got a blow job in the White House and people really give a shit about the CIA director.

[Tom Doyers]

I just pick stories that Robin would report in Robin's news or something Howard would comment on. Is starting a thread on General Patreus any more interesting. WGAS if he cheated on his wife. Clinton got a blow job in the White House and people really give a shit about the CIA director.

Carry on then

[Smartguy]

For that kind of money it should come with a hot Swedish blonde that rubs your sack while yodeling the time.

[Tinman]

In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks!

[Bye You!]

In Philadelphia, it's worth fifty bucks!

it tells time in Gstaad!

[MutteringJohn]

A lot of musicians have fallen on hard times. Dee Snider's latest sale "We're not going to take it". A bunch of people running outside with coffee pots because they don't want to make coffee in a hotel bathroom anymore.

[BethsZygote]

[Ice Hole]

I'd rather pay that $ for Blackie.

[Robert Higgins]

What the fuck? Eric seems to be an impulse shopper.

[BethsZygote]

thats 3.6 million more than anyone should pay for a watch

[Tinman]

Bringing this full circle. The Pawnbroker in that Pic is Bo Diddley, the writer of Clapton's hit "Before You Accuse Me(Take A Look At Yourself)".

[Robert Higgins]

Who ever thought after all these years that Keith Richards would be the most sane of all the 60's rock stars?

[renchfrieswith]

I like some of Clapton's songs and I'll never shit on his songwriting abilities. But he's not god and he was at his best in Cream. Oh and Jimmy Page was better in that era.

Eric Clapton playing the blues pisses me off. You just can't do that shit while being white and wearing a multi-million $$$ watches. The only cotton he ever came close to in his life is in his extremely expensive Armani suits.

This is what a blues guy looks like:

[renchfrieswith]

Who ever thought after all these years that Keith Richards would be the most sane of all the 60's rock stars?

Keith Richard's the man. I love him for still not giving a shit and doing his own thing after all these years.