Adolf Hitler’s watch has just sold for $1.1 million at auction in the U.S.
The buyer chose to remain anonymous as the sale was mired in controversy, with Jewish leaders describing it as ‘abhorrent’.
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The watch in question was made by Huber, a manufacturer-turned-watch retailer that currently operates in Liechtenstein and Austria.
It no longer produces timepieces and even finding a Huber watch in the pre-owned market is incredibly difficult.
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The auction house says it can’t prove with absolutely certainty that the watch was worn and owned by the former leader of the Nazi party, but there’s evidence that it was.
It’s a ‘reverso-style’ watch, which means it has two faces, one of which shows a swastika and the initails ‘AH’ engraved on it.
Adolf Hitler Watch
According to product catalog provided by the watch company, it was manufactured in the early 1930s.
The auction house believes this watch may have been gifted to Hitler on his birthday in 1933 and remained in his possession until 1945 when French soldiers took the watch along with other items as spoils of war.
It then changed hands a few times before being sold at auction along with other Nazi articles.
Many auction houses have sold Nazi memorabilia in the past and there’s always controversy surrounding them.
This auction, and this piece in particular, caused quite the stir.
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The chairman of the European Jewish Association said the transaction of the Adolf Hitler watch shouldn’t have happened because it favors those “who idealize what the Nazi party stood for”.
The auction house responded, saying the watch was a piece of history and must be preserved.
Even though it ended up selling for more than $1 million, it actually fell short of the Alexander Auctions’ estimate as they originally believed it was going to fetch between $2 million and $4 million.
