Forgotten Heroes - Osvaldo Patrizzi - Founder of Antiquorum

When deciding to write a series about forgotten (or perhaps, to be precise, almost forgotten) figures from the watchmaking world, my main goal was to remind people that, firstly, it was not only N. Hayek who saved the watchmaking industry in Switzerland from destruction caused by the quartz revolution, and secondly, that many people who really made outstanding contributions to this industry are practically unknown apart from a very modest handful of enthusiasts, let us add, mostly foreign ones.

For the first time in this series I am writing about a living person and I hope that Mr. Osvaldo will live for a long time. It is also worth mentioning his collaborator Waldemar Ferri-Szczerbowski, who died six years ago, an outstanding expert in Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin watches and a long-time expert in Antiquorum. Both gentlemen were guests at one of the annual meetings of KMZiZ in Warsaw in 2008, unfortunately I found only one photo from that meeting.

KMZiZ meeting in Warsaw in 2008 (source: Darek Chlastawa )

Osvaldo Patrizzi was born in 1945 in Milan and gained his first business experience in the family shop, among the assortment including perfumes and cutlery. Unfortunately, his world of dreams and childhood was quickly destroyed by the sudden death of his father in 1958. It should be remembered that life in the difficult post-war years was not the easiest, so young Osvaldo had to step into the shoes of the head of the family and provide for it. So he dropped out of school, and because from an early age he was interested in mechanics, and from mechanics to watchmaking it was not a long way, he started an apprenticeship with a watchmaker and earned his first money.

As he was a talented student, he opened his first workshop three years later, but he did not limit himself to stationary work, but also collected watches directly from customers at their homes, which often caused amusing mistakes when he was mistaken for an errand boy and not a real watchmaker, because people did not believe that a sixteen-year-old could be a craftsman capable of repairing complex watch mechanisms.

Unfortunately, despite the well-developing business, fate in the form of Italian legislation once again threw another obstacle in the way of young Osvaldo's feet. Financial regulations prohibiting the export of amounts higher than approximately 15,000 lire outside Italy made it very difficult to trade in watches, so he had to make the bold decision to move to Geneva, where in 1974 he opened his own dream Galerie de L'Horlogerie Ancienne, which later transformed in 1980 into the famous Antiquorum auction house.

The beginnings unfortunately fell on the most difficult time, when traditional mechanical watches were in retreat and only two students had enrolled in watchmaking school! At that time, almost no one was interested in watches, and there were maybe 300 collectors in the whole world. Most customers approached life very pragmatically, assuming that why keep an inaccurate mechanical watch that required regular winding, servicing and was delicate by nature, when you can have a much cheaper, more precise and practically maintenance-free quartz watch. So they said goodbye to mechanics, some for good.

In such a market environment (let's not forget the existing market giants such as Christies or Sothebys), a 29-year-old Italian economic emigrant decides to set up his own business in Switzerland, an auction house selling mechanical watches. From the beginning, he focuses on direct access to collectors, printed color catalogs to build positive emotions, and pocket watches. It was not until 1978 that Osvaldo decides, against the opinions of his friends who were tapping their foreheads discreetly, to organize the first wristwatch auction.

Collection of auction catalogues from Galerie d'Horlogerie Ancienne and Antiquorum (source: Christie's)

The auction takes place in 1980 and turns out to be a breakthrough success. Osvaldo himself recalls that, to his astonishment, a Patek Philippe watch with the reference number 2499/100 was sold for 18,000 Swiss francs, while the same model in the Patek store on the neighboring street cost only 16,000 francs.

Since then, a continuous growth has begun during which the company has set many auction records, including the sale in April 2002 of a Patek Philippe World Time in a platinum case from 1939, which reached a staggering price of 6,603,500 Swiss francs! Of the 12 most expensive wristwatches ever auctioned, Antiquorum has sold eight, organizing many thematic auctions devoted to brands such as Patek Philippe, Breguet, Vacheron Constantin and Cartier, and the proud Osvaldo Patrizzi rightly noted that auction houses had a huge impact on the growth of interest in mechanical watches, reaching collectors directly and making catalogues illustrated with colour photos an object of desire for collectors.

Produced in 1946, a unique platinum 1415 HU was sold at the Antiquorum auction in 2002 for a record amount of CHF 6.6 million (source: Christie's)

Recalling his early days, Patrizzi noted how easy it was then to buy and find watches to later auction, especially in Switzerland, which was still famous for their production, however after a while they had to look further and further, for example in China, which was a huge reservoir of Rolex watches from the 1930s, but the famous Patek Philippe became increasingly difficult to buy and sell, as many major collectors already had in their collections practically every important and desirable model, so it was necessary to start focusing on other brands, thanks to which not only other thematic auctions were created, but the Anitquorum team created extensive catalogues containing a large amount of very detailed information related to the models and their history.

Eventually, the company expanded to an international level, organizing auctions in New York and Hong Kong, among others.

Patrizzi himself sold his shares in 2006, resulting in his dismissal by the Board of Directors, which started a series of legal battles due to lawsuits he filed.

A year later, he fulfilled another of his great dreams and founded a new auction house, Patrizzi & Co Auctioneers, in which the main part of the company name came from his surname.

Already in 2000, he was recognized by American journalists as one of the twenty most influential people in the field of watchmaking of the 20th century, and in December 2009 he was also awarded the title MR. WATCH by the German magazine Weltkunst.

Also the environment so close to his heart, namely collectors paid tribute to him by calling a certain type of Rolex dial the "Patrizzi dial". This came from his discovery that some Rolex Daytona dials change color over time, often creating interesting shades, thanks to which each watch becomes unique and special. Rolex used a very rare organic varnish called Zapon to protect the dial, which over time reacted with light causing oxidation and the aforementioned changes.

Rolex Daytona ref. 16520 "Patrizzi dial" (source: HQMilton)

It is also worth mentioning that many famous people from the world of watchmaking were associated with him and his innovative approach to auctions resulted, for example, in the development of an interactive online bidding system simultaneously with classic live auctions.

He also created a grading system that is considered one of the most reliable tools to help collectors assess the condition of a watch based only on catalogue data.

Osvaldo has also authored numerous books that have become must-haves not only for enthusiasts but also for industry professionals.

Few people realize that it was Patrizzi who came up with the idea of naming the Rolex Daytona reference 6239 "Paul Newman", a name that stuck and is still in use today. The next references are 4767, 6036 and 6236, named by Osvaldo after the famous ski champion "Jean-Claude Killy", a huge fan of Rolex watches.

Rolex Daytona ref. 6239 "Paul Newman" (source: Sotheby's)

An innovative, unique enthusiast and visionary, Osvaldo Patrizzi is the author of numerous Guido Mondani Editore publications, such as:

3 editions of "Rolex Wristwatches"
2 editions of "Collecting Rolex Watches"
"Collecting Patek Philippe Watches"
"Collecting Modern and Vintage Rolex Watches"
"The Story of the Rolex Daytona"

Darek Chlastawa