At Antiquorum's Important Collectors' Wristwatches, Pocket Watches & Clocks auction in Manhattan today, a rare and important 1956 Patek Philippe chronometer (right) is expected to fetch up to $1.2 million.

The 18K yellow gold watch has a square button chronograph, 30-minute register, perpetual calendar, moon phases, and special tachometer dial, and comes accompanied by an additional Patek Philippe 18K yellow gold link bracelet, fitted box and the extract from the watchmaker's archives.

This is the priciest Patek we've seen since the Sotheby's auction we told you about in May that featured an oversized chronograph formerly owned by dashing Italian racecar driver Count Felice Trossi.

The Antiqorum sale also features an astronomic, water-resistant, platinum and diamond Patek chronograph with registers, perpetual calendar and moon phases, estimated at $280,000 - $340,000.

[via Affluent Page]

A million-dollar Patek Philippe may be out of your price range, but that doesn't mean you have to give up on acquiring a classic and highly collectible timepiece at auction. A less expensive alternative to the marquee sales at Sotheby's and Christie's comes in the form of Portero.com's eBay-style luxury watch auction, ending Wednesday. Portero, which means "gatekeeper" in Spanish, has established itself as the most reliable online pre-owned luxury purveyor by absolutely guaranteeing that everything they sell is 100% authentic - an important safeguard when shopping for secondhand big-ticket items online.

The company, which just announced the strongest first quarter results in its history, features several important timepieces in its most impressive watch offering to date. Take for instance this beautiful 1974 Stainless Steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer II, known as the "Straight Hand Steve McQueen" after the super-cool actor who popularized it - one of our favorite vintage Rolexes of all time. At Antiquorum's record-breaking $8.5 million Rolex auction last month one just like it went for $40,000, but with less than three days left (as of time of writing) the current bid on this one is only $19,000, so there's a chance to score a really good deal. See the gallery for more lots including watches by Patek Philippe, Ulysse Nardin and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The other day we reported on the world records set at Antiqorum's recent $8.5 million Rolex auction, where the top-priced timepiece fetched $248,000. At Sotheby's Important Watches auction on April 23, however, that record was shattered by the sale of an ultra-rare 1971 "Albino" Rolex Daytona that formerly belonged to rock & roll icon Eric Clapton. Eclipsing its pre-sale estimate of $100,000 - $150,000, the Daytona went for a whopping $505,000 including buyer's premium.

Though the total proceeds from the Sotheby's sale, $6,588,451, were far less than Antiquorum's, the Clapton sale set a record for the Daytona and was the second-highest price ever achieved at auction for a Rolex watch. This model is known as the "Albino" because both the background and subsidiary dials are in a monochrome silver color, as opposed to the usual contrasting variations found on more common examples.

The second through fifth highest prices paid at the Sotheby's auction were all for Patek Philippes, ranging from $445,000 - $217,000. The sixth highest was also a Rolex, a so-called "James Bond" 1959 Submariner, which brought in $211,000.

Nine world records were set at Antiquorum's massive vintage Rolex auction on April 17, entitled Revolution: The Evolution of the Rolex Sport Watch, commemorating the brand's 100th anniversary. In total, $8,515,260 worth of timepieces were sold to bidders worldwide.

Among the records set was $237,600 each for two highly-prized 1967 Sea-Dweller Submariners, and $166,800 for a 1973 Submariner originally issued to the British military. The most beautiful watch in the sale, the rare "Jean-Claude Killy" Antimagnetic Oyster Chronograph, fetched $155,000, while the highest price was brought in by a 1979 "Comex" model Sea-Dweller, which went for $248,800.

While collectors certainly paid a premium for historical value, not all the most attractive watches hit six figures. The super-stylish version of the Explorer known as the "Straight Hand Steve McQueen" pictured here went for a more modest $40,800, still a significant sum for this model.

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating piece on the world of watch collecting and in specific the Antiquorum auctions. I've covered these auctions a lot here on Luxist, they feature some of the most expensive and impressive collectibles from names like Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. As the Journal reports, the watch makers themselves are often the buyers of the watches, buying back older pieces at exorbitant prices to set the prices of collectibles. The co-founder of Antiquorum, Osvaldo Patrizzi, shown here, is quoted in the article as saying that auctions are much stronger than advertising when it comes to promoting a brand. Patrizzi's view is controversial and raises some ethical questions about whether this is price fixing. In fact, Patrizzi is no longer chairman and chief exec of Antiquorum. He was booted a couple of months ago and Antiquorum is currently going over their books. Patrizzi's ouster is not said to be connected to the single-brand auctions.

Watchmakers do often buy back certain watches for their archives much as certain jewelers do with rare pieces they want to hold on to but in the case of Omega it seems that something more might be going on. Omega was seeking to restore its reputation for fine mechanical watches after years of making quartz timepieces. Turning to Antiquorum was part of a multi-tiered campaign that included celebrity spokespeople. Patrizzi thought an Omega-only auction could help give the brand new cachet. One interesting detail though, Antiquorum couldn't vouch for the authenticity of watches that are mass-produced so Omega agreed to guarantee the authenticity of all watches sold at the auction and supplied vintage timepieces from its own collection for the sale. The sale, which was promoted in 11 cities, brought in $5.5 million last April, of 300 lots, Patrizzi says Omega bid on around 80. Did this artificially inflate the prices on some lots? That's the major concern.

Price fixing allegations on collectibles are nothing new. Perhaps the most dramatic example is the Sotheby's-Christies auction house scandal memorably detailed in The Art of the Steal by Christopher Mason. In the world of collectibles where value is determined by what people will pay, greed often takes over.

The results of the latest Antiquorum watch auction held on March 28 are in and they are impressive. The sale brought in $7,161,450 for 347 lots. There were almost 400 online bidders as well as telephone-, room-, and commission bidders staking their claim around the world. The top lots in the sale were Patek Philippe watches with the Patek Philippe Ref. 5029 selling for $590,800, shown aboe, a world record for this reference number. Other Patek Phillippes including the Ref. 5013($523,600) and Ref. 3974 ( $ 518,000) also achieved record prices. There was also a world record for a Panerai , the "PAM 21" brought in $140,400.

[Thanks, Dmitry]