Geneva’s Watch Week Just Crossed $100 Million, and Independents Took the Lead

Phillips sold all 217 lots for $112.3 million, F.P.Journe set a record, and Voutilainen and Pinaud showed where collectors are putting their money.

Nobody had ever run a live watch auction that cleared $100 million, until Phillips did it in Geneva. Over two days, “Geneva Watch Auction XXIV” brought in 92 million Swiss francs, or $112.3 million at current exchange rates, and every one of its 217 lots found a buyer. The house’s previous record had stood for only six months.

The room was full, in a sense. There were 2,121 registered bidders from 69 countries. Seventeen timepieces went past the million-franc mark, and 24 world records fell.

The independent at the top

The headline lot was an F.P.Journe platinum Chronomètre à Résonance “Régence” with a hand-engraved pink gold dial. It sold for 8.68 million Swiss francs, about $10.6 million, a record for the watchmaker. It also made it five Phillips live auctions in a row in which a watch has sold for more than $10 million. That is a streak now, and streaks are what auction houses build seasons around.

Journe had a very good week beyond that single lot. His 13 watches together brought 31.8 million Swiss francs, or $38.7 million, which is roughly a third of the whole sale from about 6 percent of the lots. A Tokyo Boutique Résonance went for more than $7 million. A diamond-set Vagabondage III passed $6 million, and both were records.

Other independents did their part. Philippe Dufour and Kari Voutilainen both posted seven-figure results. Sylvain Pinaud’s Origine No. 2 sold for more than five times its high estimate. When a young name leaves the estimate that far behind, collectors are betting on a maker, not just on a brand’s back catalogue.

A clock, a “Stelline” and the old guard

The most surprising record of the sale may have come from a clock. Cartier’s 1924 Portico Mystery Clock No. 4 is one of six Portico clocks and the only one with a hexagonal rock-crystal dial. It made 4.82 million Swiss francs, or $5.9 million, a world record for any Cartier timepiece. It was on the screen behind auctioneer Aurel Bacs as he led the sale.

The classics held up too. Vintage Patek Philippe and Rolex drew multimillion-dollar results, among them a newly discovered “Stelline” model. Pocket watches and pieces with rare decorative work also saw fervent bidding. Engraving, enamel and hand finishing, the slow work, kept finding buyers who value the hours behind it.

Phillips’ Alexandre Ghotbi, deputy chairman and head of watches for Europe and the Middle East, and Tiffany To, senior international watch specialist and head of sale, called the result “an extraordinary milestone” in a joint statement. They added: “But beyond the numbers, it is really a celebration. A celebration of the strength and vitality of the market, and of the exceptional auction we have had the privilege of putting together.”

The rest of the week

Geneva’s other houses ran their own sales alongside. Christie’s held its rare-watch auction on Monday, with a gem-set gold cuff-style Omega among the standouts. A Voutilainen there sold for 960,000 Swiss francs, or $1.17 million, almost twice its high estimate. Sotheby’s watch auction was still underway and due to conclude on Tuesday.

Put the week together and the picture is fairly clear. A sale with no unsold lots, bidders from 69 countries, records across several categories and estimates left behind at both Phillips and Christie’s suggests collectors are buying with conviction. They are paying for rarity and for a named maker’s hand, and for provenance when a piece is freshly discovered. Independents like Journe, Voutilainen and Pinaud sat next to Cartier and Patek in the results, not under them.

Phillips isn’t slowing down. Two more sales follow before the year ends: Hong Kong on Nov. 21 and 22, then New York on Dec. 5 and 6.

Via WWD