Tag: White Dials Fake Patek Philippe

This morning, The New Yorker published the latest report on the status of John Lennon’s long-lost, seemingly found, once stolen, and possibly recovered 1:1 fake Patek Philippe 2499. If the basics of this long-developing story sound familiar, that’s because we’ve covered the topic at some length in the past (here, and here, for example). For this most recent story, our pal (and past Hodinkee contributor) Jay Fielden digs even deeper into this special watch mystery and finds some new details and archival images.

Famously, the perfect replica Patek Philippe 2499 was a gift from Yoko Ono, and even without the provenance, an example of 2499 is very collectible, coming from the mid-century and being part of a production run that is said to include less than 350 high quality fake watches. If you want to learn more about the 2499, or indeed all of cheap super clone Patek Philippe’s QP chronographs, don’t skip Ben’s coverage in this edition of Reference Points.

Jay’s story, which required years of patience and research, chronicles the history of this aaa quality replica Patek Philippe UK in Lennon’s possession, the evolving mystery surrounding who owns it, the theft in 2005, and the ongoing Swiss lawsuit that should determine the legal owner of the long-contested watch. It’s a complicated web of past reports, incomplete court filings, and no small amount of old-school sleuthing as the internet continues its hunt for what Jay describes as “the El Dorado of lost watches.” Indeed, it’s an elusive watch, so much so that Ono didn’t even realize it was gone until she was notified that it would be at auction with Christie’s.

In August 2023, A Swiss federal court ruling ricocheted across the watch world (which we also covered), bringing to light the long, complicated story of Lennon’s Swiss movement fake Patek Philippe 2499. From there, Jay picked up the story, talking to the watch specialist at Auctionata, the auction house that had taken in the watch in 2013, the dealer who acquired it from there, and even speaking with Sean Lennon, John’s son.

“It’s important that we get it back because of all we’ve gone through over it,” Sean Lennon said to The New Yorker. “To me, if anything, the top qualtiy replica Patek Philippe UK is just a symbol of how dangerous it is to trust.”

It’s haunting and beautiful, especially considering Lennon’s tragic passing just a few months later. It’s a story that has fascinated many of us for many years, and it’s exciting to see more of the details come together as the story evolves. I’m not here to give anything away – there’s a whole lot more in the story, and we definitely think it’s worth a close read.

The first self-winding wristwatch made by perfect replica Patek Philippe is going on the block at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on April 7. A first-series Ref. Patek 2526, the 36 mm 18-karat gold timepiece with white enamel dial is expected to fetch between $384,000 and $770,000 (HK$3,000,000 to HK$6,000,000) thanks in part to its storied provenance.

“Patek’s first automatic copy watch is a very important milestone for the brand,” Joey Luk, director and head of Sotheby’s watches department in Hong Kong, tells Robb Report. “It is shown by how beautifully decorated the movement is even when they could only be seen by watchmakers due to the solid case back. It’s arguably the best automatic caliber ever made.”
Swiss movement replica Patek Philippe introduced reference 2526 at the Basel Fair in Switzerland in the spring of 1953. The brand then “waited for a couple of months to see how the copy watch would be received,” Luk says.

In the summer of 1953, the brand delivered the high quality fake Patek Philippe to Joe Ben (J.B.) Champion, Jr., an American criminal defense attorney in Texas whose mid-century collection of Patek Philippe watches has enchanted modern-day collectors. Over the past 30 years, just three of his watches have surfaced on the market, all made especially for him. In addition to reference 2526, these include a record-breaking platinum observatory copy watch sold by Christie’s in November 2012 for 3.8 million Swiss francs and a chronometer-tested open-face watch sold at Christie’s in Geneva in 2004.

Champion ordered reference 2526 on a mesh/woven yellow gold bracelet. Bearing the serial number 760000, the watch is accompanied by a letter dated June 27, 1953, from Werner Sonn, then-president of the Henri Stern Watch Agency in New York City, the brand’s American subsidiary. The letter confirms the provenance of the top quality replica Patek Philippe UK as well as the fact that it is, indeed, the firm’s very first self-winding wristwatch.

Champion’s watch was sold by Antiquorum in Geneva in 1991 for 32,200 CHF and again by Antiquorum in New York in 1998 for $57,500, where it was purchased by the current owner, who changed the bracelet to the one that now appears on the model, Luk says. It has remained in his collection for the past 26 years.

Apink gold perfect fake Patek Philippe 2497 perpetual calendar is a watch so rare it could already be a story in itself. When I saw the example at Christie’s Geneva sale this week, it was one of the first things I clicked on after getting briefly distracted by diamond-studded Daytonas and Rolex dials with stars (more on both of these coming soon, I swear). But this particular pink gold luxury replica Patek Philippe 2497 is even better because it once resided in the collection of a man whose untimely death became the subject of newspaper headlines and even a police investigation: Peter S. Knoll.
First, the watch. The perpetual calendar 2497 was one of 1:1 fake Patek Philippe‘s first serially-produced perpetual calendars, made from 1951 through 1963. It’s a Russian nesting doll of rarity: only 115 examples were made, and just 20 in pink gold. Of those 20, only six are from the first series like Knoll’s 2497. Rarity like that will get you a hefty estimate of CHF 600,000 to 1.2 million, or roughly the price of taking a family of four to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

The case in this first series example is made by Vichet and looks a lot like first series 2499 cases – it has elongated, stepped lugs that curve sharply, and a totally flat caseback as compared to the later Wenger cases of the 2497 and 2499. The case of the Knoll 2497 looks especially sharp, with hallmarks still intact. According to Christie’s, the silvered Stern Frères dial featuring Arabic numerals has been cleaned but remains in original condition. AAA quality replica Patek Philippe dials from this era are true works of craftsmanship in themselves: the calendar windows are cut by hand, and an engraver would first engrave the “Patek Philippe” signature, seconds scale, and calendar before applying and heat-treating the hard enamel signature. This time-intensive process is why these details can still look so crisp today, even 70 years after production.

Patek Philippe super clone for sale originally produced the Knoll 2497 in 1953, but it sat unsold until 1970. Peter S. Knoll then bought the watch at auction in 1980 and engraved it “Peter S. Knoll, New York City, 1980.” Engraving a watch that you won at auction nearly thirty years after it was produced is a bold move I hadn’t considered, but I respect Mr. Knoll for it. While recently collectors have come around a bit and appreciate the story and originality of a good caseback engraving, that wasn’t always the case. Engraving a watch makes a statement that nowadays might feel audacious, but back then was just what people did – “I bought this high end copy watch, and I’m gonna keep this watch.” I’m glad the engraving has survived the last 40 years (in the early years of watch collecting, they were prone to getting polished off); without it, this 2497 might not have caught my eye.

The Knoll 2497 last appeared at Phillips in 2015, where it sold for CHF 593,000 all-in, towards the lower end of its CHF 400,000 to 800,000 estimate. If looking at the numbers alone, it was probably a bit of a disappointment for the owner, as the watch had previously sold for CHF 446,250 in 2004. Of course, you also got to own and wear a legit one-of-six Swiss movement replica Patek Philippe UK for a decade, so hey – you’re probably still alright. A lot of watches gained a lot more value during that ten-year period compared to this particular 2497.

The estimate this time around is equally ambitious, but perhaps a few more bidders will get involved. After a few years of people getting all lathered up about pretty basic and common modern copy watches online, it feels like the long arc of watch collecting is starting to bend back towards vintage Patek, as it always does. After all, the most exciting watch for many this auction season is another complicated Patek Philippe super clone online, the “Imperial Patek” complete calendar 96.

So that’s the watch. But who was this Peter S. Knoll, who once owned the “Knoll 2497,” anyway?