Antiquorum Swiss, Monaco, 17 January 2018

Sold for £38,640

Those who had a finger on the pulse of the watch world during the early years of the 21st century might recall that words such as ?restraint,? ?understatement? and ?subtlety? were often left on the shelf as brands new and old sought to create ever more extreme designs in order to feed a seemingly insatiable market.
By 2004, therefore, a watch had to be nothing short of radical in order to cause any sort of sensation ? and the one that stole the limelight at that year?s Baselworld show came from the generally conservative Rolex in the form of the outrageous Cosmograph Daytona ?Leopard?.
I clearly remember the moment the wraps were pulled off this shamelessly gaudy creation during the Rolex press conference, because jaws genuinely dropped ? with the general consensus being that the ?Crown? had committed nothing short of horological heresy by cladding the celebrated Cosmograph in diamonds and sapphires, giving its dial a leopard look and adding a matching leather strap. But while the Leopard was initially seen as something of a joke, it has since come to be regarded as a milestone (albeit not a major one) in the Cosmograph?s history and examples perform surprisingly well at auction ? as was the case with this 2007 model that comfortably exceeded its high estimate at Antiquorum Swiss.
Consigned from the collection of French crooner Florent Pagny, it was originally given to him by none other than the now-late Patick ...