Last week while I was attending the GPHG 2021 as part of the jury and on my way back from visiting the new Audemars Piguet Musée Atelier in Le Brassus —special feature about it to follow—, I decided to stop by the La Réserve Genève Hotel to preview some of the lots that were offered by Phillips for their Geneva Watch Auction: XIV. Honestly, I have never seen so many incredible watches under one tent and I took some candid shots of some of them for your viewing pleasure. Here are some pictures of the hotel for those of you that have never had the opportunity to be there. Pretty swanky establishment to say the least.
And just as expected based on what I saw while I was there, Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo achieved a total of $74,488,836 USD selling all 248 lots offered at their Geneva Watch Auction: XIV on November 5th and 7th. With this sale, Phillips achieved the highest ever total for a watch sale in auction history. Simply mind blowing.
The top 12 lots all surpassed the CHF 1 million mark, led by the star lot of the sale, the Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch No. 1 in yellow gold. After an extraordinary bidding war, the watch eventually sold for CHF 4.75 million, not only a new world record price for any Philippe Dufour watch sold at auction but also for any watch by an independent watchmaker. The four Philippe Dufour timepieces offered for the first time included the Grande et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch, the Grande et Petite Sonnerie pocket watch, the Duality model No.8, and the Simplicity No. 57, which sold together for an impressive CHF 11.4 million —approximately $12.5 Million USD.
Another highlight was the 64-year-old Omega Speedmaster wristwatch, nicknamed the “Tropical Broad Arrow”, which smashed the world record for any Omega watch, selling for an impressive CHF 3.15 million. The Geneva Watch Auction: XIV offered 248 watches carefully curated by Phillips’ international watch team. The sale took place over two days and far surpassed its pre-sale high estimate of CHF 41.2 million. The majority of lots flew above their high estimates, including several record-breaking watches.
Collectors from across 83 countries joined the auction, and online participation continues to increase exponentially, with more than 2,300 online registered bidders who purchased half of the lots. Over the two auction days, 400 watch aficionados participated in person in the saleroom. And on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, there were some incredible Royal Oaks offered for sale.
Some of my favorite watches included a handful of Royal Oak Jumbos ref. 5402ST from A-series to C-series, Royal Oak Jumbos ref. 5402BA, a very good-looking Royal Oak ref. 14486TR in tantalum and 18K rose gold and several open-worked Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars. The three open-worked Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars offered for sale —one in platinum, one in 18K yellow gold, and one in stainless steel and platinum— fetched a total of CHF 1,108,800 Swiss Francs —$1.2 Million USD.
All of them selling for crazy money when compared to previous auctions. To put things in perspective, no 5402 sold for less than CHF 105,000 Swiss Francs.
An elusive Richard Mille RM27-04 TitaCarb tourbillon wristwatch with guarantee and presentation box, number 21 of a 50 piece limited edition sold for CHF 1.7 million Swiss Francs. This watch was released for the 10th anniversary of the partnership between Richard Mille and Rafael Nadal in 2020. The TitaCarb case with a wonderful bronze hue weighs a mere 30 grams including the strap and the movement alone has a total weight of 3.4 grams. Putting this watch on my wrist was simply once in a lifetime opportunity.
Then comes the elusive Rolex Deep Sea Special from 1966 which is part of a commemorative batch of perhaps fifty watches that Rolex produced after testing a handful of prototypes to different depths from 1,080 meters to 3,150 meters and then to close to 11,000 meters below sea level at the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point on Earth. This timepiece is so rare that it joins the extremely exclusive club of which 5 of its kind have been sold in the public arena with other publicly known examples owned and displayed by storied institutions.
Two Patek Philippe models reached the top ten, with a mythical first series ref. 2499 —lot 63— in yellow gold retailed by Serpico y Laino, whose unparalleled quality can only be described as spectacular, achieving CHF 3,539,000, and a white gold ref. 2497 —lot 122—, one of only three known, selling for CHF 2,813,000.
Offered for the first time at auction, a complete set of five F.P. Journe “Souscription” watches, N°1 in each series, sold for a breathtaking CHF 9.9 million. The watches Individually achieved the following prices: Chronomètre à resonance “Souscription” No. 1 —lot 140— sold for CHF 3,902,000; Tourbillon Souverain à remontoir d’égalité “Souscription” No. 1 —lot 138— sold for CHF 3,539,000; Octa Réserve de marche —lot 139— sold for CHF 554,400, Octa Chronographe “Souscription” No. 1 —lot 141— sold for CHF 961,700; and finally, the Octa Calendrier “Souscription” No. 1 —lot 142— sold for CHF 937,500.
With this Geneva Watch Auction XIV we see that prices have slightly settled for Rolex vintage watches; however, when it comes to Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe, and some of the independents like F.P. Journe or Philippe Dufour, prices continue to climb steadily and seems like it won’t change for a while. We’ll have to see how it goes at the upcoming auctions but honestly, I don’t see things changing much in the near future.
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