Since we love watches this was something we just had to write about. Passionate watch collectors fought a bid recently at Sotheby’s Geneva that sent the prices of the rare watches soaring into ten times more than their pre-sale estimates. So what was so special about the watches that saw a ten minute polite but aggressive bidding in a room?

At this recent sale of important watches at Sotheby’s in Geneva an extreme rare watch by Patek Philippe surpassed its estimate value to reach $475,488. It soared to more than ten times its pre-sale estimate. This watch is thought to be the one of two models of reference 844 in white gold. This minute repeating perpetual calendar watch with moon-phases from 1973 bears a full digital display of day, month and date held within a single aperture.

The watch was offered for the first time in auction, it’s a very rare stainless steel Patek Phillippe wrist watch with black dial and Breguet numerals. This is the only known example of this reference which combines a stainless steel case, black dial and pink gold Breguet numerals.

What were the other watches that pleasantly fetched a price more than its pre-sale estimates. There was the stunning example of Swiss Art Deco, a superb desk timepiece made by Vacheron Constantin, in collaboration with Verger Frères sold at $433,178. Created in 1926 eight collectors vied for this watch which features a mother-of-pearl dial by Vladimir Makovsky.

There was also a world auction record for a Heuer watch when Formula One driver Ronnie Peterson’s Heuer Carerra watch sold at $226,663, over 20 times the pre-sale estimate of CHF 10,000 – 20,000. Six passionate collectors vied for the watch during a ten-minute bidding battle. This reference 1158 was presented to Ronnie Peterson by Jack W. Heuer in 1972 on the occasion of the signing of a sponsorship deal.