After learning about Graves Jr.'s crazy spending, his fellow countrymen criticized him harshly because he was buying luxury goods while many people were starving. Graves's reputation was undermined and his business suffered losses. The banker tried to ignore the public condemnation, but the misfortunes continued.
A few months after the watch was ransomed, Graves Jr.'s best friend died. As a U.S. banker, Henry survived the loss, but the next misfortune literally made him lose. In 1934, Graves' son George died in a car accident (12 years earlier, the 25-year-old eldest son of a banker died). The millionaire told his loved ones that his new watch was cursed and must be disposed of. However, for some reason, he has not realized his intention.
Graves' daughter Gwendolen remembers that when his father was already over 60 (the years of the banker's life - 1868-1953), he took her for a boat trip. During the cruise, Henry Graves took out of his pocket the unfortunate clock and said that it was they who brought misfortune to his family, so they must be disposed of. Graves wanted to throw them in the water, but Gwendolen asked her father not to - she liked the watch very much. She took them for herself.
Sotheby's auction records.
Subsequently, the chronometer was inherited by Gwendolen's son, the famous rich man and collector Reginald Fullerton Jr. The grandson tried to look like his grandfather in everything and treated the old clock very carefully. Each copy of his collection was in excellent condition. Neither working documents nor original details were lost. Like his grandfather, Fullerton personally wound up all the watches and cleaned them from time to time.
The grandson of a banker's grandson's collection was recognized as the most historically significant in the 20th century: 13 out of 55 watches were given to his grandfather's grandson, and the pearl of the collection, of course, was the "Holy Grail" clock.
Fullerton also believed that they bear a family curse. Details of the life of the powerful of this world are rarely made public, you can only guess what kind of misfortune brought mystical watches to the new owner, but at some point, Reginald refused to keep them in the house. The Henry Graves Supercomplication Chronometer was on display at the Chicago Time Museum's permanent exhibition, even though Fullerton never showed his other watches to the public. But something made him take the best of it out of the collection!
After Fullerton's death, The Henry Graves Supercomplication was auctioned off at Sotheby's. At the initial price of three million dollars, "damned" thing went under the hammer for the amount of 11 million, setting in its category the world record price of the auction Sotheby's.
The buyer wished to remain anonymous. The secret was kept until 2014 - almost until the death of Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al Thani, who, as if wishing to prevent close death, again put The Henry Graves Supercomplication at the auction.
The new appearance of the unique watches on the market coincided with the 175th anniversary of Patek Philippe (the company was founded in 1839 by the Polish emigrant Anthony Patek and French watchmaker Adrienne Philippe).
The starting price was $16 million, with a total of 24 million. The Henry Graves Supercomplication set a new world record, more than double the previous record of 15 years ago.
What happens next?
Who wasn't afraid to buy a goddamn watch? To the surprise of journalists, the winner of the auction was not anonymous, on the contrary, his name is widely known in the watch industry. He is a consultant at Philips and former head of Christie's international watchmaking department, Aurel Bax. However, does this mean that he bought a chronometer for himself? Maybe, yes, or maybe not. It is known that Aurel Bax collects watches, but he is also one of the highest-paid consultants in the field and could well have participated in the auction on behalf of a wealthy client who wanted to remain anonymous. The newspapers even speculated that the Stern family, now owners of the Patek Philippe brand, might have bought the accessory and wanted to place it in their watch museum.
Perhaps the new owners believe that watches will lose their magic powers when they return to the place where they were made, or maybe they think that magical powers will attract additional interest in the brands of an already famous firm?
Anyway, the only thing we can say today is that the last customer is okay - he's alive. And the famous watch company still occupies a leading position in the market of watch products sales.