The Patek Philippe 5208P.
Vladimir Putin won't be in Monaco for the Monaco Legend Auctions in July, but a piece of him will be.The Russian president will be offering his Patek Philippe 5208P, a watch at the top of the storied Swiss brand's line.
The 5208P is an extremely complicated watch with features like a minute repeater (the watch will chime on demand when a button is pressed), a chronograph (a stopwatch), and a perpetual calendar, which takes leap years into account.
The watch is only sold to trusted clients of Patek (a.k.a. customers who buy a lot of their watches), and it retails for 980,000 Swiss Francs ($1 million), making it one of the most expensive watches at retail, according to Hodinkee.
It's unclear what year Putin's watch is from, as the documentation is not dated, but it appears that it was purchased in London.
In some respects, it's not surprising that Putin would be selling such a rare and expensive watch. He's a noted watch fan, appearing on many occasions with watch selections only an aficionado would choose. The cost of these watches are several times higher than his declared salary of an estimated $112,000 a year.
Some have doubted that this is actually Putin's watch as the accompanying documentation says. Though Patek retailers are told to print the real name of the new owner when it is delivered, there's no way to verify it. In addition, Putin's middle name is usually spelled with an "H" in English.
The auction for the watch does not yet have an estimate, though it's certain to be high.
