Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Gianni Agnelli may have been an automobile executive rather than a race car driver, but it didn’t stop him driving like one. His high-speed tears through the streets of Paris, Milan, and Nice were part of Agnelli’s legend as a Casanova of the Riviera who enjoyed adrenaline, celebrity romances, and expensive watches, which he wore in signature style over his shirt cuff.
The former head of Fiat is rumored to have owned more than 2,000 watches, one of which is set to appear at The Champions – Schumacher and F1 Legends, a 280 lot online-only auction hosted by RM Sotheby’s between July 24 and 30. The watch in question, a Cartier Automatic, was gifted to Agnelli by Enzo Ferrari in 1988, a small tribute perhaps to his role in saving Ferrari from financial ruin in the late 1960s and turning it into a racing powerhouse.
The watch is engraved with the words, “L’Avvocato Gianni Agnelli,” which recalls his affectionate nickname (Agnelli had a law degree but never practiced) and is accompanied by a gold-colored medallion bearing the Italian’s impassive expression. The watch, the likes of which Ferrari gifted to drivers and close friends, has been given an estimate between €10,000 and €20,000 ($11,800–$23,600).
It’s far from the only timepiece on offer at The Champions. There’s the unique white gold Girard-Perregaux that was presented to Jean Todt in 1993 during his first year as the remarkably successful head of Ferrari, which is estimated between €20,000 and €30,000 ($23,600–$35,300). Two further watches relate to first wins for Michael Schumacher: the Omega Speedmaster that commemorates his first win at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1996 estimated between €8,000 and €12,000 ($9,400–$14,000) and a Tag Heuer acknowledging his first win at the Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps, in 1992 which is estimated between €3,000 and €5,000 ($3,500–$5,900).
Deliberate or not, the sale coincides with the release of F1: The Movie, which stars Brad Pitt as the savior of a struggling team and features real-life drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, througho
