In 1980, two months before his assassination outside the Dakota Apartments in New York, John Lennon was gifted a Patek Philippe watch by his wife Yoko Ono for his 40th birthday.
Ono purchased the timepiece for $25,000, an amount that would equal $95,500 today, and holds an estimated value of 4 million Swiss Francs ($4.51 million) due to the former Beatles’ enduring presence in the culture. Ono engraved the watch with the message: “(Just Like)/Starting Over/Love Yoko/ 10·9·1980/N.Y.C.” At the time, Lennon had been working on his first album in five years, titled Double Fantasy, and would make “(Just Like) Starting Over,” which he produced with Ono and Jack Douglas, the record’s lead single.
Following his tragic death, Jay Fielden of the New Yorker traced the watch’s storied journey and wrote that it had gone missing in 2005. After moving through Europe and two different auction houses, it landed in Switzerland and became the central figure in a lawsuit over who was the watch’s rightful owner: Ono or an unidentified man the court referred to simply as Mr. A, who claimed he bought the watch legally in 2014.
Nearly two decades after the Patek’s disappearance, the Swiss Federal Court ruled Thursday that it rightfully belongs to Lennon’s widow.
The Patek Philippe 2499 perpetual calendar chronograph, a “holy grail” of the vintage watch market, was stolen by the Japanese artist’s former chauffeur and “there was no evidence to show that Yoko Ono intended to donate to the driver something as special as the watch, engraved with an inscription, that she had given to John Lennon two months before his death,” the court ruled in its decision, per Bloomberg.
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The Geneva court stated that due to the watch being deemed a stolen object, Mr. A cannot legitimately own the watch despite purchasing it in Germany ten years prior.
As Fielden noted in his New Yorker piece, Lennon’s watch represents more than its hefty financial value, symbolizing a pivotal moment in the couple’s story. Ono had gifted it to him following a period of separation, and in the same month Lennon had emerged from his musical hiatus. In November 1980, Lennon released Double Fantasy, which captured their iconic kiss on the cover, and included a noted four songs dedicated to Ono. Lennon’s final album before his death has often been interpreted as a period of reconciliation and fulfillment in the musician’s life.
