Sam Altman's $480,000 watch, the Greubel Forsey Invention Piece 1, is so rare only 33 were ever made
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman may appear down-to-earth, but he lives luxuriously.
- He owns racing cars and multiple estates.
To Sam Altman's many titles — ousted-then-returned OpenAI CEO, former Y Combinator president, universal basic income enthusiast, part-time Hawaii resident — we must add one more: Watch guy.
Very, very, very expensive watch guy.
Altman owns a watch so rare that only 33 were ever made, according to luxury watch website KeepTheTime. After spotting Altman wearing a chunky gold watch at a Wired event in 2018, BI asked the site for assistance identifying the distinctive timepiece. (BI, which went way too hard, also asked for help from a subreddit for watch enthusiasts, a longtime watch salesperson at Tiffany's San Francisco location, watch experts at several high-end auction houses, and people lurking in the Discord of the open-source intelligence site Bellingcat.)
The watch, the Greubel Forsey Invention Piece 1 in red gold, was priced at 520,000 Swiss Francs when it was released in 2008, a spokesperson for Greubel Forsey confirmed. At the exchange rate of the time, that works out to roughly $480,000.
"These aren't watches you'll see out in the wild every day," KeepTheTime wrote. "Pieces like this carry retail prices so far from obtainability that the average watch collector finds them to be fun to gawk at and read about, but that's about it — the way car people might drool over images of the Ferrari Daytona SP3 or Lamborghini Sian (although Greubel Forsey is more along the lines of a Pininfarina Battista or Pagani Utopia)."
At least one BI reporter has never heard of the latter two carmakers, so the analogy appears apt.
The wrist candy itself is a hockey puck of a watch with a somewhat baffling face that, per its makers, was the result of four years of work to rearrange "the volumes and surfaces of the timepiece according to a new technical and aesthetic structure."
Whatever that means, Altman seems to like it. Thirteen seconds into the video of his Wired talk, KeepTheTime spotted Altman taking a swift look to where his hands rested on his knees.
"Wait a minute, is that Sam Altman doing a classic watch geek move of looking down at his wrist to make sure his watch is exposed?" the site asked.
Unfortunately for Altman, the Greubel Forsey Invention Piece 1 appears to have declined in value since it was released. An identical watch sold for only about $220,000 last month at a Sotheby's auction.
Altman has also flaunted his more modest Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar 1526, one of which sold at Christie's for $106,250 in 2017.
Altman posted a photo of the timepiece on the r/watches subreddit in May 2018, with a ❤️ emoji, and was spotted wearing the watch at a congressional hearing this year where he testified to the need for AI regulation.
Altman's pricey watch collection is just one part of his ultra-luxurious lifestyle.
Business Insider previously reported that he went on an 18-month, $85 million real estate shopping spree in recent years. He was spotted driving a red McLaren F1 around northern California this month. A similar car was expected to sell for up to $15 million at auction in 2015. Altman also reportedly owns a Lexus LFA racing car, one of which recently sold for $1.1 million at auction.
A spokesperson for Altman did not respond to a request for comment.