A pair of Patek watches has raised a total of £3.75 million in Geneva, at an auction that raised the second-highest total ever for a watch sale.

Twelve bidders competed for two timepieces, one of which was a 1949 Patek Philippe perpetual calendar wristwatch made from stainless steel and decorated with painted Arabic numerals that was bought for $3.95 million.

The other Patek Philippe watch was a 1954 platinum perpetual calendar wristwatch that has black hard enamel numerals, which fetched $3 million.

Aurel Bacs, co-director of Christie's international watch department, told JCKonline.com: "A highly educated market responded enthusiastically to the finely curated selection of watches in today's landmark sale."

Overall the auction took more than $25 million (£12.84 million) in bids with Patek Philippe earning 13 of the top 15 bids.

Meanwhile, the DiscountWatchStore.com has announced it will start to stock Breitling and Tag Heuer watches.