Almost 219 thousand euros was paid by the participant of the Bonhams auction for the wrist watch Pablo Picasso. The place of markers on the silver dial was taken by 12 Latin letters, from which one can add the name of a famous artist. The preliminary estimate of the auction lot was 12-18 thousand euros, so the watch managed to surpass the estimate 12 times at once!
What watch was worn by the artist, who is now recognized as the most "expensive" in the world? This is a 1960 steel model from a little-known Swiss manufacturer Michael Z. Berger. By the way, the Michael Z. Berger brand still exists and works in the US market.
The tradition of making watches with names on the dial appeared long before Picasso: in the collections of XNUMXth-XNUMXth century models, you can see specimens specially ordered from the atelier, customized by using the letters of the name of the future owner instead of the usual numbers.
“This is an unusual find and we are delighted to offer this very special watch at our Paris auction. Only occasionally do I manage to touch history in the form of a clock. This makes an indelible impression - I will never see anything like this again, ”- this is how Jonathan Darracott, head of the Bonhams watch division, described his feelings from the presentation of the lot.
Meanwhile, photographs of the founder of Cubism indicate that Picasso's watch collection was diverse. Picasso checked his time against the Rolex GMT Master, Jaeger-LeCoultre and even Patek Ref. 2497 (although there is no exact confirmation of the latest model). But the artist definitely loved this Michael Z. Berger watch: in it he appears in a series of photographs by the Englishman Cecil Beaton.
The 32 mm watch, which by today's standards looks more suitable for a woman's wrist, was presented by Pablo to his girlfriend, the Greek sculptor Lele Kanellopoulou. She told her nephew that one day in the 1960s, Picasso simply removed the watch from his wrist and presented it to her. A hand-wound steel bracelet watch has a new owner at a Paris auction.
