Watch: Wristwatch owned by last Chinese emperor sold for $5.1m in Hong Kong

A wristwatch once owned by China’s last emperor, Aisin-Gioro Puyi, went up for auction on Tuesday (23 May) in Hong Kong.

The piece was predicted to fetch over $3m, in part due to the rarity of the Patek Philippe Reference 96 Quantieme Lune.

It sold for $5.1m in an auction which lasted around seven minutes.

Other items being auctioned by Phillips were an inscribed paper fan, a manuscript notebook, watercolour paintings and a leather-bound printed edition of Confucius’ Analects once belonging to the last Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

The 86-year-old watch’s remarkable history travelled to Siberia with its owner when he was imprisoned for five years in the USSR from 1945 to 1950.

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