Wristwatch fetches $2.25 million in Geneva auction

GENEVA (Reuters) - A chronograph wristwatch which belonged to an Italian racing driver fetched 2.345 million Swiss francs ($2.25 million) at auction, Sotheby's said on Monday.

The large gold Patek Philippe watch originally owned by Count Carlo Felice Trossi, president of Scuderia Ferrari, went for the highest price ever for a wristwatch sold at Sotheby's, the auction house said.

Sotheby's said before Sunday night's sale in Geneva that the watch, known as the "Trossi Leggenda", was "almost certainly unique" and could bring 2 million Swiss francs. It was the star lot among nearly 200 watches.

Trossi was a racing driver, pilot and speed boat racer whose motor-racing victories included the 1947 Italian Grand Prix.

"It is a watch of great symbolic and historic importance as it came out in 1932, a turning point which also saw car racing and the emergence of airplanes," Geoffroy Ader, Sotheby's head of watches in Geneva, told a pre-sale news briefing.

"The combination of Patek Philippe and Ferrari make it an exceptional watch," he said, referring to the Swiss watchmaker and Italian luxury car maker.

A gold Rolex made around 1980, known as the "Oyster Daytona Paul Newman" and named after the Florida car race and for the American actor who made the style famous, netted 157,000 francs, compared to its pre-sale estimate of 50,000 to 80,000 francs.

"People who can buy these kinds of watches have a quest for the perfect watch. Once they've found it, they will go for it with no limit," Ader told Reuters ahead of the sale.