We first spotlighted this watch, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Single Piece (IWC500923) when it was flashed by Bradley Cooper at the 91st Academy Awards.

The watch, a piece-unique in a red gold case, with a caseback etched with a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly’, was always destined to serve a higher purpose.

On March 4, it went under the hammer for US$60,000 ($81,524) in a Sotheby’s auction. The full sales proceeds will go to the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry youth foundation, in support of the Association Arrimage in Nice, France, which aims to help visually impaired children to ‘experience’ drawings through touch via two-dimensional relief drawings.

Incidentally, one of the first tactile books used by the association for this purpose was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince.

This story first appeared on www.crownwatchblog.com