henry graves – WatchesAndMoreCO

📅 Sunday, August 16, 2026

Commissioned for American banker and legendary watch collector Henry Graves Jr., the Patek Philippe Graves Supercomplication emerged from an extraordinary horological rivalry with automobile magnate James Ward Packard. Graves wanted a watch of unprecedented complexity, and Patek Philippe responded with a double-sided yellow-gold pocket watch containing 24 complications and roughly 900 components—all conceived in an era before computer-aided design.

Among its astonishing functions were a perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph, minute repeater with Westminster chimes, grande and petite sonnerie, equation of time, sunrise and sunset indications—and one particularly personal complication. The reverse featured a celestial chart depicting the night sky above Graves’s Manhattan residence at 834 Fifth Avenue, transforming the heavens over his own home into a mechanical display he could carry in his pocket.

The project required approximately eight years from beginning to delivery, with the watch finally reaching Graves in 1933. At the time it surpassed every previous horological record and became the world’s most complicated watch—a title it retained for 56 years, until Patek Philippe unveiled the 33-complication Calibre 89 in 1989.

Its story became even more extraordinary decades later. Sotheby’s first sold the Supercomplication in 1999 for $11 million, establishing a world auction record. When it returned to Sotheby’s Geneva on November 11, 2014, five bidders fought over it for approximately 15 minutes before the hammer finally fell at CHF 23,237,000—roughly US$24 million—again setting a world record for a timepiece at auction.

💡 Did You Know?

That celestial display wasn’t simply a generic star chart. It was calculated for the sky above Henry Graves Jr.’s own Manhattan home, making one of the most complicated watches ever constructed extraordinarily personal. More than 90 years later, the Supercomplication remains one of the greatest demonstrations of what watchmakers could accomplish using mechanical engineering, mathematics and craftsmanship—without computers.

Category: Record Breaker

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to keep these watch facts accurate, but the world of horology is full of myths, disputed stories, and fascinating trivia. Consider these facts a starting point for discovery rather than the final word. If you have corrections or additional insights, let us know—we’re always happy to keep the record ticking in the right direction.

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