SJX Watches
Hands On: Patek Philippe “Extra Special” Chronometer of Henry Graves Jr.
A patrician banker who gained posthumous fame in the 21st century for his watch collection, Henry Graves Jr. (1868–1953) is most famous for having owned the Graves Supercomplication, once the most complicated watch in the world, and also the most expensive watch ever when it sold at auction ten years ago. His reputation means the watches he once owned – there were not all that many of them but all were high quality – carry cachet. One such example is coming up for sale at Phillips New York auction. It’s a Patek Philippe “Extra Special” pocket watch that is top-quality chronometer, classical in style and functional, and bearing the all-important Graves family crest on the hinged back. Now a horological symbol Not rivals but great collectors Graves’ modern-day fame as a watch collector was due in part to the ostensible rivalry between him and James Ward Packard (1863-1928), the engineer who founded the eponymous automobile company and an equally accomplished collector of great watches. Though both were active during the same decades, more or less, the famous competition between the two was a story made up in the 1990s to market the Supercomplication. Graves outlived Packard by 25 years, and the latter was quite ill when Graves was at his collecting peak. Graves bought the “Extra Special” pocket watch here in 1925, the year Ward fell ill with cancer before dying just three years later. An example of Packard’s impeccable taste: he commissioned this Patek Ph...
