F1 legend owns eight watches. Michael Schumacher earns more than $4 million at auction in Geneva.
Michael Schumacher‘s two timepieces are on display: F.P., left, Journe, Invenit et Fecit, piece Unique, Vagabondage 1 Model, estimated to sell between 1,200,000 and 2,300,000 US dollars, and Audemars Piguet, right, Royal OAK Chronograph model, estimated to sell between 180,000 and 280,000 US dollars, during a preview at Christie’s, Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday, May 9, 2024. On Tuesday, May 14, 2024, Christie’s will auction off eight exquisite watches once owned by Formula One legend Michael Schumacher. Credit: AP/Martial Trezzini.
GENEVA — Eight watches belonging to auto racing icon Michael Schumacher sold Tuesday for nearly 4 million Swiss francs ($4.4 million) at a Geneva auction.
The top piece in the sale, organized by Schumacher’s family, was a watch given to the German racing superstar by former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt as a Christmas present in 2004. The hammer came down at a price of 1.2 million francs, or 1.5 million including the buyer’s commission.
That was well within the pre-sale estimate range of 1-2 million francs.
F.P. Journe’s custom-made platinum wristwatch, the Vagabondage 1, has 18-carat white gold, a red watch face, and images of a Ferrari insignia, Schumacher’s racing helmet, and a “7” to commemorate his seven World Championship titles.
Remi Guillemin, Christie’s head of watches for Europe and the Americas, declined to identify the buyer, but confirmed that the same client purchased five watches from the Ruthenium collection, which is a boxed set.
While most of the eight watches sold within the pre-sale estimates, an Audemars Piguet featuring a Ferrari prancing horse emblem, sold for a hammer price of 330,000 francs — well above the top of the expected range at 250,000.
The sale of Schumacher watches, which garnered a total of more than 3.1 million francs at the hammer price, was timed for the 30th anniversary of his first Formula One Drivers Championship win in 1994.
The watches, which were taken to New York and Taipei for showings before the sale, were part of a larger auction of luxury timepieces to go under the hammer on Tuesday at Christie’s in Geneva.
Schumacher, who retired from F1 in 2012, shares the record for most F1 titles with British driver Lewis Hamilton.
In December the following year, Schumacher fell while skiing in the French Alpine resort of Meribel and suffered a near-fatal brain injury.
Since being transferred from hospital in September 2014, he continues to be cared for privately at a family home in Switzerland.
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