While the annual auction calendar is full of events and sales, the flagship occasions tend to be the major auction houses’ Geneva sales. Both Phillips and Christie’s had sales in the watchmaking capital of the world in the past three days. So, let’s look at the headline results.
Phillips Surpass $100 Million
Phillips have recorded the first ever live watch sale to break through the $100 million mark in total sales value with The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV, Nov 7-8. The exact figure is $112,277,184 (CHF 92,045,568, €100,780,693, approx. £83,581,375). Of the 217 lots, 17 achieved results above CHF 1 million, of which the standout is the F. P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance “Régence” that reached CHF 8,680,500. The million club also included Patek Philippe, Rolex, Philippe Dufour, and Voutilainen – showing the strength of high-end independents.
One of the dominant themes of the auction was that it’s the rare and unique watches that attracted the big price tags. For a brand as ubiquitous at auction as Rolex, it was the star-shaped hour markers of the Ref. 6062 Time Capsule Stelline (CHF 2,334,500) and the square cased Ref. 3830 Anti-Magnetique “Verga” (CHF 1,270,000) that had extraordinary results. Well above any ordinary Daytona or Submariner by an order of magnitude (a John Player Special Daytona reached CHF 1,905,000).
More details at Phillips.
Watches For ELA Raises $615,000 For Charity
Watches For ELA is a charity auction where unique piece watches are sold to raise funds in support of research into leukodystrophies – a collection of rare brain diseases. This year, the auction was run by Christie’s in tandem with their Rare Watches auction on Nov 9. There were 21 lots in the charity auction, raising a fantastic $615,000 (CHF 501,400, approx. £457,900) for the cause.
Highlights include the Cédric Johner Abyss at CHF 61,440 and Felipe Pikullik Mondphase I Skeleton at CHF 64,000, both CHF 20,000 above their top estimates. The absolute star of the show though was ELA Ambassador Zinedine Zidane’s personal Cartier Pasha, which reached 5x its initial estimate at a price of CHF 102,400 with buyer’s premium. Perhaps the most surprising result is the Kollokium Projekt 01, which reached CHF 24,320 despite being based on a model with a retail price of CHF 3,888 – I’m 99% certain that makes it the most expensive watch in Kollokium’s history and is a major achievement for the small indy.
Christie’s Rare Watches Highlights
Taking place alongside the Watches For ELA auction, Christie’s also had a strong showing in their Rare Watches auction with a sale total of CHF 47,824,592 ($58,703,706, approx. £43,723,270). One of the highlights was the sale of the F. P. Journe Ruthenium series, a collection of five matching watches previously owned by Michael Schumacher. For this sale, the five watches were offered as separate lots and each surpassed CHF 1 million, with the Tourbillon and Resonance models each reaching CHF 1.5 million.
One of the statistics that Christie’s shared is particularly interesting, 40% of registered bidders were millennial or Gen Z, showing the shifting audience of watch sales towards the younger generations. It’s a topic discussed broadly in the watch industry, but this is one of the first concrete statistics I’ve seen to support it.
