Some gifts are given in private, then years later they appear under bright auction lights.
On December 1, 2025, Bonhams in New York is offering a very personal piece from Elvis Presley’s world. It is a gold plated Mathey Tissot wristwatch from around 1970 with an automatic calendar movement. Around the bezel, his name “Elvis Presley” rises in bold letters with four small stars along the bottom edge.
This was not a store shelf watch. Between 1969 and 1971, Elvis had pieces like this made for his inner circle. They were quiet badges of belonging, worn by the friends, family, and staff who stood closest to him.
The one under the hammer now was a thank you gift to his dental team, Dr Max Shapiro and Ms Jewell Shapiro. Their family is the one releasing it today after holding it for decades.
Behind it all stands Harry Levitch, the Memphis jeweler Elvis once promised to support when he was still a teenager. Levitch had helped a poor friend of young Elvis through a fund that bought children new shoes, and Elvis never forgot so years later he kept his word and made Levitch “the jeweler to the King.”
Levitch designed Priscilla’s engagement ring and the couple’s matching diamond horseshoe wedding bands. A surviving 1960 letter from him thanks Elvis for his kindness and “valued patronage.”
Bonhams expects this watch to bring between $4,000 and $6,000, though the story behind it may push bidders higher.
THE WATCHES OF ELVIS PRESLEY | COLLECTION REVIEW
A short feature called “Top 10 Mathey Tissot watches” walks through the brand’s most important designs and includes the Elvis Presley Day Date at around the 3:24 mark. You can clearly see the gold finish, the raised “Elvis Presley” lettering and the four small stars flashing around the bezel, just like in the auction photos. Side by side with pilots and military pieces, it becomes clear how unusual and personal this Elvis commission really was.
Top 10 Mathey Tissot watches
To really feel how deep this bond between Elvis and Harry Levitch ran, it helps to see the moment their most famous work stepped into history. The story of Elvis and Priscilla’s wedding brings that 3.5 carat engagement ring and the matching horseshoe bands to life. It shows the Las Vegas ceremony on May 1, 1967, and the scale of Elvis’s giving spirit. After that, the gold Mathey Tissot gifted to his dentist feels less like a watch and more like a promise kept.