A diamond-studded Omega wristwatch that once belonged to Elvis Presley, awarded to him by RCA Records for the record-breaking sale of his records, will be offered during Phillip’s Geneva Watch Auction: Seven on May 12-13 in Switzerland.
The watch was given to Presley by his record company to mark his milestone of 75 million records sold, more than anyone to date, which was reported on Christmas Day, 1960. The watch is encased in 18k gold with the engraving on back: “To Elvis, 75 Million Records, RCA Victor, 12-25-60.”
Phillips, which is holding the watch auction in association with Bacs & Russo, said the watch marks a significant moment in musical history. Presley was at the height of his career when he began serving a two-year commitment in the Army, with record sale still thriving. The sales record was reported the year that he returned home.
Presley did not the keep the watch for long, according to Phillips, trading it at a Las Vegas bar for a diamond Hamilton watch worn by another patron, who took possession of the historic timepiece. The Elvis watch stayed in that family, and the current owner is the nephew of the man who traded with Elvis.
Presley was well-known for giving away valuable items, including numerous watches that he bought or were given to him, as well as a penchant for giving away new Cadillacs to family members, associates, even strangers.
For information about the watch auction, visit the Phillips website.
I think the watch having being made by Omega is the key to the estimated price of sale being only US$100,000. Had this been a Rolex, a Patek, a Vacheron or a Piaget, we would be talking about a lot more. That is why a silkscreen of Elvis Presley and Marylin Monroe, called "Elvis/Marylin" by David Scheinmann and which is currently located at the 21c Museum Hotel in Louiville KY, and which sold for US$4,500 could not, ever, compete with a similar sized Elvis silkscreen by Andy Warhol, the not so well known "Campbell’ s Elvis", which was the first Warhol’s painting in which he superimposed two images onto a single canvas, and which auctioned at Christie’s on 9 November 2010 for US$1.45 million. That of course, was peanuts compared with what Elvis garnered for Sotheby’s and Christie’s after the 2012 and 2014 sales of Double Elvis and Triple Elvis (curentyly housed at the SFMOMA,) at $37,1m and US$81.9 m. respectively, let alone the US$100 million paid for Warhol’s "Eight Elvises", in 2008.
Well I stand to be corrected, as the watch broke the all time record for an Omega timepiece, selling 18 times its high estimate, namely at US$1.8m. The new owners are the Omega Museum in Biel, Switzwerland. The watch is now valued amongst the top ten watches to have ever been sold at auction.