Someone Just Paid $31M for This Wristwatch

Someone is about to have a very well-adorned wrist. Christie's held its charity Only Watch auction in Geneva on Saturday to help raise money for research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an every-other-year event that features dozens of luxury timepieces, and a one-of-a-kind Patek Philippe earned the title of most expensive wristwatch ever sold, going for $31 million. CNBC notes that the stainless-steel Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 with 18K solid-gold dial plates and alligator leather bracelet features 20 "complications," including a minute repeater, a second time zone, and both a grande and petite sonnerie.

The watch's most distinguishing feature: its flippable and reversible front and back dials, one black and one salmon. Per Barron's—which calls the timepiece "the brand's most complicated wristwatch ever built"—the watch took seven years and upward of 100,000 hours to create. Forbes notes the most expensive wristwatch ever sold before this one was a Rolex Daytona once owned by Paul Newman, which went for $17.7 million in 2017. The most expensive watch overall ever sold was also a Patek Philippe, a 1920 Henry Graves Jr. Supercomplication pocket watch that sold in 2014 at Sotheby's for $24 million. The buyer for the $31 million watch hasn't been identified. (More wristwatch stories.)