Auctions: The Military And CIA-Provenance Highlights Of The Monaco Legend Group Spring Auction

Every good auction nowadays seems to need a few massively expensive “grail-level” pieces, and the cover lots this year for MLG fit the bill. First is a fresh-to-market version of the first serially-produced perpetual calendar, made by Patek Philippe, a ref. 1526 in pink gold, with a pink dial, signed by the retailer Casa Masson in Brazil, with a massive magnifying “cyclops” over the moonphase and date. 

There’s also an example of the water-resistant Oyster case calendar Rolex, the ref. 6062, in stainless steel with an Arabic-numeral dial configuration. That watch last sold at Christie’s in 2009 for CHF 447,000. The estimates are €500,000 to 1,000,000 for the Patek and over €1,000,000 for the Rolex. But I was drawn in by three watches with fascinating provenance, including – of course – one incredibly cool pocket watch.