*photo courtesy of dnjournal.com

You have to admire Frank Schilling's business acumen. After entering the domain business in 2001 he quickly assembled one of the most lucrative portfolios of names in the industry.

Frank parlayed that revenue into a diverse range of business opportunities which include everything from rum cakes to wristwatches.

When my own company first entered the watch business it was pointed out to me that many well known players including Mr Schilling, Rick Schwartz and Larry Fischer all had stellar collections.

On the phone with Frank one afternoon he told me his favorite watches were Patek Philippe minute repeaters and vintage Rolex Submariners. He's got good taste!

While we have yet to get a Patek minute repeater, we do get vintage Subs somewhat regularly.

A repeater is a complication that makes a chime of the hours and minutes with the press of a button. They were more common in pocket watches before there was artificial light so the owner could tell what time it was when it was dark. Putting a repeater in a wrist watch is a complicated process indeed.

Patek Philippe is commonly regarded as the best of the luxury watch makers and their minute repeater is their most sought after watch.

During yesterday's Christie's auction which sold more than ten million dollars worth of watches and included many of Frank's time pieces, a Patek Philippe platinum perpetual calendar minute repeating tourbillon with a moon phase was sold for $602,500. That was Frank's watch.

Congratulations to Frank and well done Christie's.