Phillips New York Watch Auction: XIV Sets New Records For F.P. Journe

This weekend was a remarkable one for watch enthusiasts, thanks to the results realized by Phillips at the New York Watch Auction: XIV. It was not a surprise to anyone who has been watching the auction market that, in defiance of the doomsayers, demand for watches remains high. The decline in sales by volume and by revenue in for new watches made by established brands seems less to reflect a broadening disinterest in watches, and more to reflect that with narrowing options in retail market watches, enthusiasts are increasingly turning to the preowned market for more accessible pricing, as well as for access to pieces which are highly desirable but out of production, and which rarely come to market.

Phillips was an interesting case in point. The catalog was about as far removed from the something-for-everyone approach which was the status quo for many years (with the exception of themed auctions organized around a specific theme or brand, like the Art of Patek Philippe Auction in 1989). The lot with the lowest estimate was No. 93 – a very charming Rolex cocktail watch which reached $15,240 against an $8000 high estimate. The lot with the highest estimate was a crisply preserved pink gold Patek Philippe 1518, which had a high estimate of $2.4 million, but when the hammer had finished falling, the king of the hill was an F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance – a souscription model, no. 007.

Reckonings And Records

No. 007 (which come to think of it, has in common with the fictional spy that it is an anachronism with surprising staying power) set a number of new records. The watch became over the course of nine minutes of bidding, the record holder for highest price for any watch by an independent watchmaker, highest price for any Journe, period, and highest price paid for a 21st century watch offered at a commercial auction (the distinction is important because the all time auction record for any watch was set by a unique piece Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, which was sold at Only Watch 2019 for $31.2 million.

Phillips says that the results for Journe were across the board extraordinary and they were – of the top ten lots, five of them were watches by Journe, including:

1. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance 007; $13,922,000
2. Patek Philippe 5004G, owned by Eric Clapton; $5,202,000
3. Journe Tourbillon Souverain Anniversaire “Hong Kong” no. 1 of 5; $4,355,000
4. Patek ref. 1518 in rose gold, 1948; $3,922,000
5. Journe, Octa Chronographe “Swiss Fine Timing” $2,032,000
6. Journe, T30 Tourbillon Anniversaire Historique; $2,032,00
7. Journe, Chronomètre Souverain “Swiss Fine Timing,” $1,968,500
8. Voutilainen, Masterpiece Chronograph II; $1,842,500
9. Rolex Daytona “John Player Special” $1,803,000
10. Richard Mille “Skull” unique piece, $1,397,000.

Journe was represented by a total of 17 lots, out of a total of 158.

All together, the Journe lots represented 10% of the 158 lots, but took in $29,401,600 all told – which means that those 17 watches were responsible for almost 40% of the total auction revenues of $75.8 million. And, on top of that, no. 007 was about 47% of the total Journe revenues, and nearly 20% of the auction total overall (18.3%). 

Not only that, all of the Journes sold for multiples over their estimates, sometimes by quite a bit – a Chronomètre Souverain “Nacre” with a mother of pearl dial had a high estimate of $120,000, and sold for $508,000.

Of course, nothing approached no. 007 and the reasons are  fairly  clear – it is an early, Souscription model of what I think is Journe’s single most iconic watch. There were only 20 made, and there will never be any more ever made, and in the last ten years, perhaps seven or eight have shown up at auction. 007 also had going for it that it is a rare configuration; put all that together and you have a $13.9 million perfect storm.

Independents Day (Again)

Independents did very well as well although at this stage of the game, this probably surprises no one. De Bethune was represented by four watches this time around, and while results are not gasp inducing just yet, all four performed well against their high estimates; the top lot from DB was a DB15 perpetual calendar – no. 001, in fact – which reached $406,400 against a $60,000 high estimate.

The Journe results speak for themselves, of course, but independents have gone over the last couple of decades, from being very inside baseball options where value retention, to say nothing of investment value, was something of a side issue, to being the category where some of the most dynamic opportunities exist, both in terms of value retention and in terms of opportunities for watches that have something of the personality of their makers.

Hidden Treasures

The headlines at auctions are always the records or near records (or the catastrophic disasters, which thankfully happens less often) but for those willing to forego the pleasures of the seven figure flex, there are always very good, to sometimes downright magnificent, watches to bid on. My favorite hidden treasure this time around wasn’t a pink gold 1518, but it was a Patek: a 1909 observatory chronometer, lot 44, with an Extra grade movement and a Guillaume balance (you can find out more about why that’s such a big deal here) which is an object lesson in how Patek made its reputation and kept it.

The quality of the watch is obvious and speaks for itself, but the man to whom it was inscribed seems to have been an interesting individual in his own right. Major K.C. Laurie, as it turns out, was born in London but raised on his wealthy family’s estate in Nova Scotia. He went to Sandhurst, served in the Boer War, and World War I,  and the watch was presented to him just a few months before the November Armistice of 1918. He was a Major at the time of the presentation of the watch but he seems to have finished as a Lt. Colonel, and after the war ended, he moved back to Canada – to a little town called Oakfield, near Halifax – where he became chairman of the Board of Governors of Dalhousie University. I love everything about this watch – the history, the story behind it, the unmatched quality in its execution – except that cake-icing thick layer of radium on the hands. This is a little out of my wheelhouse, but I wonder if the radium paint wasn’t added after the fact; its application on the hands looks a little haphazard. Still, though, it is a lovely piece of work, is it not?