Eight watches from the gathering of Michael Schumacher highlighting milestones within the profession of the seven-time Formulation One champion will probably be auctioned by Christie’s in Geneva and should fetch tens of millions.
The timepieces embody a novel F.P. Journe Vagabondage 1 Mannequin from 2004 that commemorates every of Schumacher’s F1 championship wins. It was given to the German-born driver by his Scuderia Ferrari group principal, Jean Todt.
The watch is “arguably the most important Vagabondage F.P. Journe ever made,” Remi Guillemin, Christie’s head of watches in Europe and the US, stated in an interview.
The platinum-cased, customized red-dialed watch with a gold motion has a wandering hours show exhibiting the Ferrari brand in addition to Schumacher’s distinctive helmet. The one-of-a-kind timepiece from the Geneva watchmaker might fetch greater than 1 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) at public sale, Guillemin stated.
Different Schumacher watches to be bought in Geneva on Might 13 embody an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph in white gold with a white dial exhibiting the symbol of Schumacher’s Ferrari group on a subdial, in addition to six stars on one other to mark the six F1 championships Schumacher had gained between 1994 and 2003. The watch was additionally given to Schumacher by Todt and has an public sale estimate of between 150,000 francs and 250,000 francs, based on Christie’s.
The sale may also embody Schumacher’s personal ‘Paul Newman’ Rolex Daytona. The black dial chronograph, reference 6262 with unique subdials, has a pre-auction estimate of 200,000 francs to 400,000 francs.
Schumacher retired from racing in 2012 and suffered a extreme mind harm snowboarding in France the next 12 months. The Schumacher household approached Christie’s greater than a 12 months in the past to find out the worth of a number of the watches within the former driver’s assortment, based on Guillemin.
Throughout his profession, Schumacher was “very sensitive to the world of watches” and has an in depth assortment, Guillemin stated.
The motive force was an promoting accomplice for Swatch Group AG’s Omega model when he gained his third F1 title and first with Ferrari in 2000. On the time, Omega issued a model of its Speedmaster Racing chronograph with Schumacher’s signature on the caseback.
