Did You Know? The Dalai Lama Owns One of the Rarest Patek Philippe Watches

It isn’t every day that one of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders gets linked to one of the rarest timepieces ever made. But the Dalai Lama, known globally as the 14th reincarnation of the Tibetan Buddhist leader, happens to be the owner of a Patek Philippe so rare that only about 15 examples were ever produced. Even more intriguing? The watch was a gift from U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt back in 1943.

The Dalai Lama’s piece is the Patek Philippe Reference 658, a complication-packed watch featuring a perpetual calendar, moon phase, split-seconds chronograph, and minute repeater. Launched in 1937, the model was only in production until the late 1950s, and according to Hodinkee, just around 15 pieces ever left Patek Philippe’s workshops.

How this rare watch ended up in the hands of a then-seven-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is a tale that reads like historical fiction. According to Thomas Laird in The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent the timepiece to Tibet during World War II via two officers from the Office of Strategic Services—the forerunner of the CIA. The men were Ilia Tolstoy, grandson of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and Brooke Dolan. Their mission was to explore a potential supply route through Tibet to aid China in its fight against Japan. The Patek Philippe, along with a letter from Roosevelt, was presented in Lhasa as part of the diplomatic exchange.

Inside the box was a gold Patek Philippe that displayed the phases of the moon and the days of the week. “I was seven or eight,” the Dalai Lama recalled of receiving Roosevelt’s gift in Thomas Laird’s book. Over the years, the piece went out for repair more than once—whether from the rough handling of childhood, an ill-fated encounter with a magnet while he was working on a movie projector, or even while he fled Tibet in 1959.

For decades, details of the Dalai Lama’s Patek Philippe were elusive. According to Hodinkee, even direct requests to the Office of Tibet were declined, leaving collectors with little more than stories. That changed in 2016, when US Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont posted a photo on Facebook showing the Dalai Lama proudly presenting the watch at an event in Washington, D.C.—the first time many enthusiasts could finally see the rare Ref. 658 for themselves.

Auction history shows just how valuable these pieces are. Christie's sold a similar Ref. 658 in 2010 for 351,000 Swiss francs, which at the time converted to about P15.6 million. In 2011, another example sold for 243,000 Swiss francs, equal to roughly P11.9 million based on the exchange rate then. Experts note that with the Dalai Lama’s provenance, his watch could easily soar past $1 million (around P56.9 million) if it were ever sold.

While the idea of the Dalai Lama as a watch collector may surprise some, his fascination with intricate timepieces is well-documented. As Mr. Porter points out, the Patek gift sparked a lifelong curiosity about mechanical objects, with the Dalai Lama himself admitting to disassembling watches as a young man. In his book Ethics for the New Millennium, he candidly wrote:

“For example, I have always enjoyed repairing watches. But I can remember a number of occasions as a boy when, completely losing my patience with those tiny, intricate parts, I picked up the mechanism and smashed it down on the table. Of course, later I felt very sorry and ashamed of my behavior—especially when, as on one occasion, I had to return the watch to its owner in a condition worse than it was before!”

Over the years, the Dalai Lama has been photographed wearing Rolexes—including a Day-Date and a two-tone Datejust—as well as watches housing Valjoux 7751 movements, according to Wrist Enthusiast. True to his character, he often attaches them to inexpensive bands and wears them on the inside of his wrist, a subtle gesture that downplays their luxury status.