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Lot Essay
With Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch in 1961 and its subsequent sale on November 27th of the same year.
To the best of our knowledge this watch has never before been offered in public. According to our research, this is the fifth reference 2555 in pink gold case to come to auction.
Reference 2555 was introduced in 1954 with the pink gold version amongst the rarest variant of the Calatrava family.
The present watch belonged to Rudolf Kunnet, born Rudolf Kunettchenskiy in 1983 in Trostyanetz, Russia. His family owned one of the largest plantations that supplied the Smirnov family with grain used in the production of vodka. In 1917, the Bolsheviks denounced the production of vodka, and Kunnet, who was working for the Red Cross in Denmark at the time, was unable to return to Russia. He chose to move to America, arriving at the age of 27, coincidentally the same year that Prohibition began.
In 1933, Prohibition was repealed and using his marketing experience, Kunnett signed a deal with Vladimir Smirnov to produce vodka for the American market. The liquor was manufactured using the Smirnov family recipe, changing the name to Smirnoff for American buyers. A series of good partnerships and good timing made Smirnoff vodka in America a success and it became one of the leading brand names in the spirits market.
In the 1960's, he purchased the present Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 2555, a watch that he wore every day for the rest of his life. Before his death in 1979, Kunnett gifted the watch to his close friend Beverley Jackson and asked she continue to wear the watch, wind it every day and have it serviced regularly.
To the best of our knowledge this watch has never before been offered in public. According to our research, this is the fifth reference 2555 in pink gold case to come to auction.
Reference 2555 was introduced in 1954 with the pink gold version amongst the rarest variant of the Calatrava family.
The present watch belonged to Rudolf Kunnet, born Rudolf Kunettchenskiy in 1983 in Trostyanetz, Russia. His family owned one of the largest plantations that supplied the Smirnov family with grain used in the production of vodka. In 1917, the Bolsheviks denounced the production of vodka, and Kunnet, who was working for the Red Cross in Denmark at the time, was unable to return to Russia. He chose to move to America, arriving at the age of 27, coincidentally the same year that Prohibition began.
In 1933, Prohibition was repealed and using his marketing experience, Kunnett signed a deal with Vladimir Smirnov to produce vodka for the American market. The liquor was manufactured using the Smirnov family recipe, changing the name to Smirnoff for American buyers. A series of good partnerships and good timing made Smirnoff vodka in America a success and it became one of the leading brand names in the spirits market.
In the 1960's, he purchased the present Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 2555, a watch that he wore every day for the rest of his life. Before his death in 1979, Kunnett gifted the watch to his close friend Beverley Jackson and asked she continue to wear the watch, wind it every day and have it serviced regularly.