Anyway, I was excited to see what looked like a Patek 1578GM at Christie’s this week, but at second glance, it’s more of a buyer beware. While the dial is black, it doesn’t look like what’s generally accepted as a legit and original 1578GM dial. Note, in particular, the different small-seconds layout and the stick hands (usually, the 1578GM has leaf hands). Over the years, I’ve seen a few stock 1578s trying to masquerade as the rarer (and more expensive) 1578GM, and this feels like another one of those.Â
Worse yet, Christie’s copy-pasted its lot description from the last (legit) 1578GM it sold back in 2017. Images for the current lot clearly show a caseback engraved “C.F. Kirkland.” But the lot essay says, “The present watch belonged to Mr. K. P. Smith. The caseback of the watch reads GMC. GMOO, K.P. SMITH, 1934-1964.” However, the 2017 example Christie’s sold was K.P. Smith’s, not this one. Whoops!Â
This would just be an innocent little copy-paste mistake, but with a watch like the 1578GM that’s driven by its history, it’d be helpful to have the story of the owner, a letter of provenance, or something (anything!) showing that this watch is what it says it is. For what it’s worth, this doesn’t look like an example of an auction house being nefarious but of being understaffed.Â