Monday, 12th May 2008 (913 views)

A gold wristwatch that once belonged to Italian racing driver and nobleman Count Carlo Felice Trossi has sold for 2.345 million Swiss francs (£1.14 million) at an auction in Geneva, according to reports.

News service Reuters said the price paid for the Patek Philippe chronograph watch is a record high for the auction house that handled the sale, Sotheby's.

A spokesman for the firm told the site that the timepiece was "almost certainly unique" and it had been the star lot in the sale of approximately 200 watches.

Prior to the auction, Sotheby's head of watches in Geneva Geoffroy Ader said: "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."

Other items in the sale included a gold Rolex watch known as the Oyster Daytona Paul Newman after a Florida motor race and the Hollywood actor who popularised its style sold for 157,000 Swiss francs - outdoing its pre-sale estimate of 50,000 to 80,000 Swiss francs.

Count Carlo Felice Trossi drove for two racing teams, Mercedes-Benz and Italy's Alfa Romeo, winning the 1947 Italian Grand Prix and the 1948 Swiss Grand Prix. He was also honorary president of Scuderia Ferrari automobiles.

 

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