Andy Warhol’s Rare Rolex Oyster Chronograph to go Under the Hammer

The extremely rare stainless steel and pink gold chronograph wristwatch with a steel-and-gold expanding riveted Oyster bracelet will go under the hammer at Christie’s Rare Watch Auction in Geneva, Switzerland.

A leading figure of the pop art movement until his death 32 years ago, Andy Warhol was an avid watch collector and amassed hundreds of rare and expensive watches over his lifetime.

The vast collection of over 300 watches, along with his art collection and jewellery, were sold at a Sotheby’s mega-auction in New York in 1988 to raise money for The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

The Rolex Oyster Chronograph Anti-Magnetique was a part of that auction, with a number of the items sold at the 1988 sale keep reappearing at different sales.

In the preface to the 1988 Sotheby’s auction catalogue, Fred Hughes, Warhol’s former manager and sole executor of his estate, wrote, “All show that same fascination and obsession with design, colour, shape, and texture that enhanced Andy’s life inspired him in his collecting, and was so essential to his own aesthetic.”

The timepiece is currently the property of a private Italian collector and is expected to fetch anywhere between $200,000 to $300,000 at the Christie’s sale.