The Geneva Watch Week has just ended, bringing with it a new batch of records. A highlight at Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo on November 5th and 6th, where pieces from the big names in independent watchmaking alongside collectors from Rolex, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet again set auction records.
So the François-Paul Journe madness continues, the price of his exclusive watches bordering on the (almost) unreasonable. More than ten pieces from the house were auctioned in one session. The Resonance Chronometer (lot 22) sold for CHF 226,000, the Vagabondage II in rose gold (lot 24) for CHF 302,400, the Octa Calendar (lot 47) for CHF 226,800, the Octa Lune for CHF 89,000 and the Octa Lune for CHF 89,000. Black Label (lot 24) CHF, Chronomètrre bleu CHF 94,500, Perpetual Calendar (lot 94) CHF 138,600, Centigrade Souverain (lot 133) CHF 163,800, Automatic Moon (lot 135 €) AMD 638,000 Finally, the Octa Reserve de Marche (lot 230) sold for CHF 100,800, while the Tourbillon Souverain (lot 231) achieved CHF 441,000.
In turn, two signature MB&F creations changed hands: the Legacy Machine perpetual calendar (lot 227) for CHF 176,400 and the Horological machine 3 (lot 228) for CHF 52,920. Kari Voutilainen also remains a regular at the auction, with a Voutilainen Chronomètre (lot 23) at CHF 107,100, a Vingt-8 ISO (lot 29) at CHF 151,200, and above all, a unique piece created with Zenith and the auction house that has been sold. not less than 315,000 CHF.
Vianney Halter’s La Résonance Prototype (lot 26) exceeded its estimate by CHF 252,000, and the Retrograde date in platinum (lot 144) reached CHF 277,200. On an exceptional pocket watch, lot 143, an extremely rare large complication in yellow gold 60mm for Urban Jürgensen signed by Derek Pratt, sold for CHF 239,400.
Between the production of the youngest and the rise in the number of amateurs, this phenomenon of constantly rising ranks of independents is unlikely to slow down. The trend continues with houses such as De Bethune (recently acquired by Watchbox) whose DB28 Aiguille d’or surpassed its estimate of CHF 126,000 (lot 49) and DB27S2 Titan Hawk more than doubled is its estimate of CHF 107,100. The DB25 Power Reserve Prototype fetched CHF 201,600, up from a CHF 80,000 high estimate, and the Dream Watch Prototype fetched CHF 201,600.
The independence of watchmaking and the passion for exceptional watchmaking also apply to rare creations by the legendary Philippe Dufour, one of which (lot 232), Simplicity, estimated at CHF 350-700,000, finally sold for 1,022 CHF200.
100% of sold lots for this Geneva watch auction. XVI by Phillips will fetch 45 million Swiss francs in a joint auction with Bacs & Russo. And this in the presence of more than 300 collectors with 1650 online bidders. The stars of this sale will also be watches from one of the founding fathers of modern independent watchmaking, George Daniels. His Spring case Tourbillon (lot 27) quadrupled its estimate to CHF 4,083,500, his Jubilee model (lot 30) reached CHF 693,000 and his superb Millenium CHF 828,600.
Finally, while the small watchmaking world is buzzing with the announcement of next year’s revival of a brand that disappeared at the dawn of the 2000s, two creations by Daniel Roth have topped CHF 88,000 at auction. Proof if anyone needed that fine watchmaking is made to stand the test of time.
Source: Le Figaro
