The week of Geneva watch sales has just ended, bringing with it its new batch of records.
Notably at Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo, on November 5 and 6, where alongside collector's items by Rolex, Patek Philippe or Audemars Piguet, creations by the big names in independent watchmaking once again beat auction records.
To discover
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Thus, the François-Paul Journe madness continues, the price of his exceptional timepieces bordering (almost) on unreason.
In a single session, more than ten pieces from the house were put up for auction.
A resonance chronometer (lot 22) was sold for 226,000 CHF, a Vagabondage II in pink gold (lot 24) for 302,400 CHF, an Octa calendar (lot 47) for 226,800 CHF, an Octa Lune Black Label (lot 50) for 189 000 CHF, a Chronomètrre bleu 94,500 CHF, a perpetual calendar (lot 94) 138,600 CHF, a Centigrade Souverain (lot 133) 163,800 CHF, an Automatic Moon (lot 135) 63,000, a Chronomètre à Résonance (lot 140) 352 800 €.
Finally, an Octa Réserve de Marche (lot 230) sold for CHF 100,800, while a Tourbillon Souverain (lot 231) peaked at CHF 441,000.
Phillips
For their part, two creations signed MB&F changed hands: a Legacy Machine perpetual calendar (lot 227) for 176,400 CHF and a Horological machine 3 (lot 228) for 52,920 CHF.
Kari Voutilainen also remains a regular at 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, sold for no less than 315,000 CHF.
Phillips
The prototype of La Résonance by Vianney Halter (lot 26) exceeded its estimate at CHF 252,000, and a Retrograde date in platinum (lot 144) reached CHF 277,200.
On the exceptional pocket watch side, lot 143, an extremely rare grand complication in yellow gold 60 mm in diameter signed Derek Pratt for Urban Jürgensen, sold for CHF 239,400.
Phillips
This phenomenon of constant rise in the rating of independents is probably not about to slow down, between production of the smallest and growth in the number of amateurs.
The trend continues with houses like De Bethune (recently acquired by Watchbox), whose DB28 Aiguille d'or exceeded its estimate at CHF 126,000 (lot 49) and a DB27S2 Titan Hawk more than doubled its estimate at CHF 107,100.
A DB25 Power Reserve prototype fetched CHF 201,600 from a high estimate of CHF 80,000, and a Dream Watch prototype fetched CHF 201,600.
Phillips
The passion for watchmaking independence and exceptional watchmaking also concerns the rare creations of the legendary Philippe Dufour, one of them (lot 232), a Simplicity estimated at CHF 350 to 700,000 having finally been sold for 1,022 CHF200.
With 100% of the lots sold, this Geneva Watch Auction: XVI by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo will have generated 45 million Swiss francs in auction.
And this in the presence of more than 300 collectors, with 1650 online bidders.
The stars of this sale will also have been the timepieces of one of the founding fathers of contemporary independent watchmaking, George Daniels.
His Spring case Tourbillon (lot 27) quadrupled its estimate to CHF 4,083,500, his anniversary model (lot 30) reached CHF 693,000 and his superb Millenium CHF 828,600.
Phillips
Finally, while the small watchmaking world is buzzing with the announcement of the rebirth next year of the brand that disappeared at the dawn of the 2000s, two creations by Daniel Roth have exceeded 88,000 CHF at auction.
Proof if one were needed that fine watchmaking is made to stand the test of time.