Hands-On with Emperor Aisin-Gioro Puyi's Imperial Patek Philippe Reference 96
Patek Philippe has created timeless watches worn by important and royal figures, like the Dalai Lama and Queen Elizabeth, since the brand’s founding in 1839. Over the years, Patek’s rich history and strong foundation in high-end watchmaking has made their pieces highly revered and sought after. It seems that Patek Philippe pieces are constantly being auctioned at record-breaking prices (and they are). Sometimes this is due to their rarity (due to only a handful of pieces of a watch being produced) or because of the provenance of the watch, such as it being owned and worn by an important historical figure.
The watch world was set abuzz when Phillips announced the upcoming auction of not only an extremely rare Patek Philippe model, but one famously worn by Emperor Aisin-Gioro Puyi. The watch is currently making an international tour across New York, Singapore, London, Taipei, and Geneva, allowing interested collectors, potential buyers and journalists to get a glimpse at the historically significant timepiece. Once this tour is complete, the watch will come under the hammer in Hong Kong. Last week, Wrist Enthusiast’s Aybike Ahmedi was able to go hands-on with the historic timepiece at Phillips in New York City.
The Imperial Patek as it is called is a Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune that once belonged to the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Aisin-Gioro Puyi. Famously, the Qing Dynasty was the final imperial dynasty in China, which lasted from 1644 until 1912. Not even accounting for the historical value, the watch is extremely rare. Only seven similar pieces have resurfaced before, making this the eighth. Further it is one of only three with this exact dial configuration, displaying a triple-date and moon phase. And obviously, in addition to its rarity, it holds a glimpse into an important part of history, belonging to Emperor Aisin-Giori Puyi.
In 1908, Aisin-Gioro Puyi became Emperor at just two years old. His life and reign was filled with timult. He faced revolts, imprisonment, and separation from his loved ones throughout his life. While he was the Emperor of China from a young age, he later became the Emperor of Manchukuo (1932-1945), a puppet state in China and Mongolia controlled by the Japanese.
Through the research conducted by the Phillips team we have come to know that the Patek Philippe Reference 96 was on Emperor Puyi’s wrist during his reign of Manchukuo. Puyi then passed the watch down to his nephew before finally gifting it to his Russian translator, Georgy Permyakov. With the collapse of Manchukuo due to the Russians, Emperor Puyi was imprisoned in the Soviet Union (1945-1950). It was there he gifted the watch to Permyakov. This final journey of the Imperial Patek is unheard of. It is not common for monarchs, emperors, or people of high social status to gift their staff such valuable or sentimental items. This only adds to the allure and historical importance of the timepiece.
When the team at Phillips first got word of the piece in 2019, they were excited that they had come across such a rare watch without even knowing who the watch once belonged to. However, there were clues about the watch’s provenance. The watch had other artifacts alongside it, an inscribed paper fan, a notebook, a leatherbound edition of Confucius’ Analects, and some watercolors (belonging to Puyi’s brother-in-law, Gobulo Runqi). These items opened the door to three years of research on the watch until they were finally able to tie the rare piece to its historical roots. Indeed, many hours were spent by Phillips’ resourceful team of watch specialists, scientists, historians, and journalists researching the items and their origins.
The research was split into three parts. First, items were sent to ArtDiscovery in London, a lab dedicated to radiocarbon dating and microscopic examination. Through the research process an article was discovered on Georgy Permyakov, which led the team to the home of journalists Russell and Nonna Working. The husband-and-wife journalists had interviewed Permyakov and had photos from his house which contained the watch and artifacts. Finally, the team was led them to Wang Wenfeng. Wenfeng was once a researcher of the Museum of the Imperial Palace of the Manchurian Regime, where he carefully studied the life of Puyi and had taken note of texts where Puyi states gifting the watch to Permyakov, who had become a close friend of the emperor.
Through Wenfeng’s interviews of Emperor Puyi’s family and friends it was learned that during the Soviet imprisonment, Puyi had asked his personal attendant, Li Guoxiong, to remove the surface of the dial to see if it was made of platinum. Upon discovering it was not made of platinum they put it back together. These were further details that ensured the etymology of the timepiece.
Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo will auction the Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune including the other artifacts in Hong Kong on May 23, 2023, at 7pm HKT/ 7am ET. It will be the first watch auction to be held in their new Asia headquarters in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. It is estimated that the piece will sell for over $3 million USD/ $25 million HK. You can learn more about the auction from Phillips.