With his signature natty suit, fedora hat and lit cigar, Al Capone came to typify the image of an ‘American gangster’ during his lifetime. Now, a century after the Chicago mobster’s rule as the most notorious member of the American mafia, his Patek Philippe pocket watch is being auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York.
The man who would go on to inspire dozens of films, novels and television dramas was born Alphonse Gabriel Capone in New York in 1899. As a youth he joined the city’s ruthless Five Points street gang and was later wounded in a knife fight at a Brooklyn night club – an act which left him with a life-long facial disfigurement and earned him the moniker ‘Scarface’.
After moving to Chicago, Capone assumed control of an organisation called ‘The Outfit’ and, between 1925 and 1929, became one of the most high-profile criminals in America. Though he cultivated the persona of a professional businessman, charming both the media and local politicians with his charity donations and work with the city’s poor, Capone’s gang was involved in a wide range of illegal activities, including the distribution of bootlegged alcohol during Prohibition, loansharking, gambling, prostitution, extortion and murder.
Ultimately, rather than being murdered himself, Capone was de-throned by the accounting team of the US Federal Government, who managed to convict him on charges of tax evasion. The gagster was sentenced to 11 years in prison, serving his time in America’s renowned Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, amongst other institutions – he served just over seven and a half of those years.
Though it’s now been 89 years since Capone was released from jail, the fascination with his exploits remains higher than ever – especially since the news that his personalised pocket watch is soon to be auctioned at Sotheby’s upcoming Important Watches sale in New York in June (bidding is already open to people who would like to register).
According to Capone’s family, the gangster discarded the original ‘plain’ case of the Patek Philippe timepiece and commissioned a solid platinum pocket watch case instead. The dial features an ‘open face’ design with Breguet numerals and a period-correct brand signature (though the watch’s minute hand has sadly gone astray). On its reverse, Capone had 90 single-cut white diamonds set into the case to spell out his monogram, ‘AC’, using a graphic Art Deco style.
Capone’s watch was previously brought to auction by one of his direct descendants at Witheralls back in 2021 as part of a wider sale of 174 items from his estate, including the mobster’s favourite gun and tie bar. Entitled “A Century of Notoriety”, the auction was dubbed by experts “one of the most important celebrity auctions in history,” and garnered over $3 million in total. Capone’s Patek Philippe was the top lot in the jewellery and watches section of the auction – it smashed its $25,000 to $50,000 estimate and eventually sold for $229,900.
For its latest appearance at sale, Sotheby’s has given Capone’s watch a new pre-sale estimate of between $80,000 and $160,000. With so many other rare and valuable pieces coming to Sotheby’s auctioneer’s block at the same time, the watch may not be the highest earning lot of the sale – but, for the right collector, it could certainly be the star of the show.
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