A Patek Philippe wrist watch dating from 1941 set a world record auction price in Geneva on the weekend, selling for Swiss francs 11 million ($14.5 million) including buyer's premium.

(Phillips charges buyer's premium on a sliding scale ranging from 25 per cent down to 12 per cent for the priciest items.)

It is a model known as a Reference 1518, of which three were included in the sale, but this was the only one in stainless steel – the others being in gold.

The watch has features including a chronograph or stopwatch facility and a perpetual calendar that allows for leap years. It shows the phases of the moon, and has a tachymeter scale which is used in measuring speed.

Courageous effort

The catalogue says the reference 1518 was the first perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch ever produced by any brand in series, and in those uncertain times demonstrated the company's remarkable courage. The watch is now considered an important milestone in horological history, it adds.

Some 281 examples of this model were made, but only four in stainless steel.

The steel watch is so rare that there is no example in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.