1815 identical watches fetch record 1.45m at auction

London, Nov 19 : A pair of identical watches has created a world record after they fetched 1.45 million pounds in an auction.

The watches, which are the mirror image of each other, were made in 1815 and presented to Emperor Jiaqing of China by King George III the following year. A Chinese collector, who owned the collector's pieces for generations, finally sold them in the auction in Geneva.

The buyer, also Chinese, was an unidentified private collector Etienne Lemnager, of the Geneva auctioneers Antiquorum.

He said that the watches were in perfect condition.

"The paintings were done by Jean-Abraham Lissignol, who was perhaps the greatest painter of animals," Times Online quoted him as saying.

ANI