Yahoo Lifestyle John Lennon’s Long-Lost Patek Philippe Belongs to Yoko Ono, a Swiss Court Rules
It sounds like Yoko Ono will soon get back a reminder of her late husband John Lennon.
A Swiss court has ruled that the Beatle’s long-lost Patek Philippe 2499 rightfully belongs to Ono, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. An Italian collector has been in possession of the timepiece for years, but his most recent appeal to retain the watch was rejected.
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Ono gifted the engraved perpetual-calendar chronograph to Lennon just a couple of months before he was assassinated in 1980. The watch was believed to have been stolen by Ono’s former chauffeur before it was revealed to be in the Italian collector’s hands late last year.
“There was no evidence to show that Yoko Ono intended to donate to the driver something as special as the watch, engraved with an inscription, that she had given to John Lennon two months before his death,” the Swiss Federal Court wrote in its decision, viewed by Bloomberg. Because the Patek is considered stolen, the collector cannot lay claim to having legitimately bought it from a defunct German auction house in 2014.
When the unnamed collector took possession of the watch, he sought to detail its provenance, as we reported back in September 2023. That led to contact with Ono and the ensuing legal battle. While a Geneva court ruled in June 2023 that Ono was the rightful owner, the collector appealed, leading to this most recent ruling.
The stolen Patek is considered to be one of the most valuable watches in the world, Bloomberg noted. Lawyers for Ono have estimated its price at $4.5 million, according to court filings viewed by the outlet, but some believe that the timepiece could be worth much more. Last year, after the Phillips executive Arthur Touchot revealed that the Patek had been found, one collector said that it could hammer down at auction for up to $11.2 million.
“This is undoubtedly one of the most-sought-after watches which the watch world has been hoping to see,” Marc Montagne, the author of a book on watch collecting, told Bloomberg at the time.
Now, with the watch legally belonging to Ono, it’s unclear what exactly will happen next. Ono could of course choose to hang on to the Patek as a memento. Or perhaps she’ll take it to the auction block—much to collectors’ delight.
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