Hot Lots and Hidden Treasures at Geneva Auction Week
Not the usual suspects.
Although the news out of Geneva this week has been, for understandable reasons, dominated by the thematic Christie’s auction, “The Art of F. P. Journe,” there is considerable horological firepower coming from other directions as well. The Big Three of the world’s watch auction houses – Christie’s itself, Sotheby’s, and Phillips – all have a combination of both perennially desirable pieces from companies like Rolex and Patek, as well as some exotic and extremely rare and unusual high complications, works from notable independent watchmakers, and masterpieces from past masters like Breguet and John Arnold.
Christie’s Rare Watches, May 13
In an apparent attempt to out-do itself, Christie’s, in addition to “The Art of F. P. Journe,” is offering a total of 159 pieces in its May 13 “Rare Watches” auction. As the name suggests there is no particular overarching theme, although there are actually an additional four watches by F. P. Journe being offered, including lot 96, which is a very early (2003) platinum Tourbillon Souverain, with a ruthenium movement (you’ll recall that Journe began his company using brass movements with ruthenium plating and then, from 2004 onward, switched to using 18k rose gold).
There are some 23 makers represented. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the lots are represented by those most liquid of brands, Rolex and Patek, with 41 Pateks and 57 Rolex watches in the mix. 15 of the Pateks are Nautilus models but for serious Patek collectors, two of the lots that are actually not watches might be of interest – there are a couple of Patek’s extremely beautiful and impressive lighters on the block (lots 126 and 127) and, less surprisingly, a Tiffany blue Nautilus leading high estimates, at CHF 2-4 million.
But for me, the biggest prize is a Breguet, one of five Breguet lots in the auction. Lot 123 is the one I’d be keeping my powder dry for, if I had the amount of powder I’d need to keep dry for this sort of thing. It is a Breguet by Breguet – no. 47 6/87, from the 1790s, which is a minute repeater perpetuelle (the term used by Breguet for his self-winding watches, which had massive platinum oscillating weights) which is a treasure not only historically, and technically, but also aesthetically. It’s one of the clearest demonstrations I’ve ever seen of why Breguet is to this day, revered not only for his restless spirit of invention and innovation, but also for his uncanny ability to create complicated watches that manage to be elegantly restrained in design as well.
If you’re in the mood for something from an independent that’s an object lesson in fine hand-finishing, or a wonderful wristwatch repeater from Audemars Piguet that’s not in a round or Royal Oak case, lot 42 – a Romain Gauthier Logical One in white gold – and lot 42, a rectangular AP jump-hour minute repeater – ought to fit the bill.
Sotheby’s Important Watches: Part I, May 14
Sotheby’s is fielding a slightly smaller selection than Christie’s this time around, with 119 lots total and and with 25 makers represented, from A. Lange & Söhne, to William Anthony, London. While there’s nothing with quite as stratospheric an estimate as a CHF 4 million Tiffany Blue Nautilus, we’ve still got a John Player Special Daytona, with a CHF 1.2 million estimate, a pretty-as-a-picture Rainbow Daytona (high estimate, CHF 1.2 million) and a 2001 Journe Chronomètre à Résonance with ruthenium movement (high estimate, CHF 400,000)
On the road slightly less traveled, for you value-minded Patek collectors, there is a gorgeous “American Calendar” ref. 844, with an in-line perpetual calendar and minute repeater. (“American Calendar” refers to the month-date-year arrangement of the calendar window).
I’m being a little tongue-in-cheek in saying “value minded,” but only a little. John Reardon, over at Collectability.com, has written a piece on collecting Patek pocket watches in which he argues that in terms of quality, for a fraction of the price of a comparable wristwatch, you can find in Patek pocket watches (especially from this era – pre-World War II) a level of craftsmanship and skill which has all but vanished from the modern horological landscape. At CHF 150,000 for the high estimate, I think this watch is hard evidence that Reardon makes a pretty solid point.
Oh, and if that Breguet at Christie’s floats your boat, why not treat yourself to a pocket watch by pioneering English watch and clockmaker Thomas Tompion, sometimes called the father of English clockmaking, and the maker of (among other things) precision regulator clocks for the Royal Observatory that have a one year power reserve? Or how about a pocket chronometer by John Arnold, buddy to Breguet (and possible co-inventor of the tourbillon) with spring detent escapement and compensation balance? Pick up those two along with the Breguet and you can start your own horological museum (and I’ll be first in line to get in).
Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XVII, May 13-14
Phillips is heavy on heavy-hitter Pateks in its Geneva Watch Auction XVII – there are three 2499 perpetual chronos, a 1518, an Advanced Research Aquanaut with visible “compliant” mechanism for the annual calendar (definitely the furthest thing from a run-of-the-mill Aquanaut as it is possible to get) two “Padellone” perpetuals, and that’s just the tip of a sixty lot Patek iceberg. In fact, of the Big 3, Phillips is the one to beat in terms of sheer number of Patek watches going under the hammer – sixty at Phillips, versus 41 at Christie’s and 24 at Sotheby’s. Numbers alone aren’t everything of course, but certainly Phillips has you spoiled for choice if you’re in Geneva in the next couple of days with a hankering for a handful of high-end Pateks and a few spare million rattling around in your change purse.
Phillips is also leaning hard into, and betting heavily on, independents. The house is offering watches from a cornucopia of indies, including Svend Andersen, Konstantin Chaykin, Daniel Roth (five of these), De Bethune, Derek Pratt (a perpetual calendar minute repeater pocket watch for Urban Jurgensen, one of four, and with a high estimate of CHF 140,000, another piece of evidence that when it comes to bang for the buck in quality, pocket watches are the game to beat) and … well, a lot of others. There are 28 different indies in all, totalling 46 lots. And that’s not counting the bigger but still independent brands that aren’t usually classed under the “indies” heading, like Audemars Piguet. This is versus ten independent watchmaker lots at Christie’s and nine at Sotheby’s (not counting the museum-piece English makers).
We’ve already mentioned one of our favorite pieces of the entire week in an article by Griffin Bartsch – that incredible pocket watch grande et petite sonnerie made by Philippe Dufour for Audemars Piguet, and retailed by Asprey, and in a similar vein, I would be remiss in failing to note that there is a Roger Smith Series 1 going on the block as well – one watch representing a high-water mark for classic Swiss complicated watchmaking, and the other representing the revival, at a very high level, of the classic English approach to watchmaking.
And rounding out the theme of real hand-made watchmaking – not a machine-produced simulation of hand-made watchmaking, which is largely what you’re getting these days – there is the Greubel Forsey X Urwerk X Dominique Buser X Cyrano Devanthey Naissance d’Une Montre 2, which I think in addition to representing a kind of summary of real hand-made watchmaking, also walks away with the special Oscar for Watch With The Longest Name at Auction Week.
And then, there’s the Biver Carillon Tourbillon – which I think is one of the most interesting watches at Auction Week, and probably one of the most interesting of the year. It’s a unique piece in titanium, with obsidian dial and it is according to Phillips, Jean-Claude Biver’s personal prototype. This particular combination won’t be used, ever, in any other Biver watch although whomever wins this unique piece will have the option to order additional watches from Biver in titanium with an obsidian dial – giving the new owner the chance to begin building a collection of Biver unique pieces. The Biver Carillon Tourbillon is not just a high complication from an industry legend who actually deserves the adjective “legend” – it is also dramatically different, controversial, and polarizing and I think Jean-Claude Biver wouldn’t have it any other way.