Thanks to a jeweler on the tiny island of Gozo, off the coast of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea, a British tabloid got all the clues it needed to break the story last week of Angelina Jolie’s very special $4 million wedding gift to Brad Pitt.
In fact, The Mirror reported that the jeweler was asked by a friend of the super couple to inscribe the back of a rare 1952 Patek Philippe platinum chronometer with the phrase, “To Roly from Nessa.” These just happen to be the names of the characters Pitt and Jolie play in their new movie, By the Sea, which they are currently filming on the picturesque island of Gozo.
“I did inscribe the watch. It was for Brad, and it was a rare one,” George Farrugia of Dolindo Jewellers told The Mirror. “It was very valuable.”
Farrugia’s assessment of “very valuable” may be just a bit of an understatement. An investigation proved that back in November 2012, a platinum 1952 Patek Philippe J.B. Champion Platinum Observatory Chronometer with a diamond-set minute-track on the dial was the top lot in a Christie’s Geneva auction, fetching a staggering $3.99 million. Some believe that Jolie’s wedding gift to Pitt is that watch.
The 1952 Reference 2458 watch with an Observatory grade movement is one of only two Patek Philippe wristwatches with Observatory grade movements — of which only 20 were ever assembled. Only one version, however, was made with a platinum case. For this watch, Champion — a celebrated lawyer in his time — had his name etched directly onto the dial. The watch was one of many he collected.
Engraving the case back of this $4 million watch did not faze the jeweler, Farrugia. “I wasn’t nervous about the inscription because I knew I could do the work perfectly,” he told The Mirror.
Pitt and Jolie were married in France last month after nine years of dating. The Hollywood couple, sometimes known by the combined name “Brangelina,” is said to have a combined wealth of $400 million. With that wealth, the marriage of history and Hollywood commands just a small portion.
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