UK Swiss Replica Patek Philippe’s First Automatic Watch Is Heading to Auction

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.

Author: Isabel Lila

Isabel Lila writes about watches with a particular interest in how familiar designs, movements and everyday details come together on the wrist. At WatchChoiceUK, she covers replica watches across brands such as Rolex, Omega, Breitling, TAG Heuer, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Hublot. Her articles focus on the details readers are most likely to want explained clearly, including case sizes, dial layouts, bracelet styles, automatic and quartz movements, chronograph functions and the differences between popular watch collections. Rather than treating every watch as a list of specifications, Isabel looks at how a model actually differs from similar references and why those differences matter. She also contributes to buying advice and watch knowledge articles designed to make technical terms easier to understand for readers who are still learning about watches. When discussing replica watches, she aims to distinguish clearly between the specifications of genuine branded watches and the features found on replica versions. This helps avoid confusing official manufacturer specifications with the construction or movement used in an independently produced replica watch. Her work for WatchChoiceUK is intended to provide straightforward information for UK readers interested in watch design, movements, collections and replica watch comparisons.