Pre-owned watch market participants might be feeling deflated after the September sales, but October and especially November might really cheer them up.

The top upcoming auctions in November look fairly promising compared to last month's sales organized by the big three auction houses — Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips. In September, only around USD 180,000 was paid for quite a rare platinum Octa Chronographe by F.P. Journe with a ruthenium-plated dial.

Same time Patek Philippe's Nautilus Ref. 5711/1A-010 and "Jumbo" Ref. 3700/1 each went for around a hundred thousand US dollars! And those are the top results from Phillips Watches Online Auction: the Hong Kong Sessions, Fall 2024, which closed on September 27. It looks like the Chinese pre-owned watch market has waned too.

The Hong Kong sales continued the trend of poor results seen at a similar auction held a week earlier on September 5-12 — Phillips Watches Online: the Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024. The most expensive lot was a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 116598 SARO chronograph in a 40-mm yellow-gold case encrusted with 36 pink baguette-cut sapphires sporting a mother-of-pearl dial with eight diamond hour markers, which raised CHF 190,500. 

Second and third place were shared by watches with the same result of CHF 177,800: the full rose-gold Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5990/1R and Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Black Ceramic Ref. 26579CE. Not one lot exceeded the mark of CHF 200,000.

And many interesting watches, such as the yellow-gold Breguet Tourbillon Biretrograde Ref. 3657 from 2000 with retrograde power reserve and 24-hour displays, sold for laughable prices like CHF 33,020. This performance certainly hasn't encouraged pre-owned watch market participants. But then out of nowhere, the Americans and Monégasques managed to find some causes for optimism amid the general doom and gloom.

Space Watches

A couple of extremely interesting pieces have resurfaced and are being listed for the first time at an auction which closes on October 24: a Rolex GMT-Master "Pepsi" and an Omega Speedmaster which were owned by the American astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Dave Scott.

They'll be auctioned off at the Space auction hosted by the American Remarkable Rarities Auction (RR Auction). The auction house's specialization is spelled out in their its name, but there's a particularly high demand for space-themed lots among their clientèle: flown flight suits, checklists and flight plans, and you've guessed it — space watches.

For example, a gold Omega Speedmaster Professional chronograph was sold by RR Auction exactly two years ago for almost USD 2 million. The watch was launched to commemorate the first crewed mission to land on the Moon, and this particular piece was presented as a gift to one of the first American astronauts, Wally Schirra. That's a very expensive watch!

After all, Omega launched a whole 1014 of these chronographs to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when the first person stepped onto the Moon's surface. The top astronauts were given 26 of these watches as gifts bearing serial numbers from 3 to 28. So basically, this chronograph isn't so rare, but it's still the most expensive watch to have belonged to an astronaut.

This time round, RR Auction is offering exactly the same 18K gold Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11 1969 “Tribute to Astronauts” (Ref. BA 145.022), only this chronograph happens to be from Dave Scott's collection. Its yellow-gold case measuring 42 mm in diameter houses the manually wound Caliber 861 — a modern copy of the famous vintage movement in the Lemania chronograph.

The model issued as "no. 16" in the series has a caseback engraved "Astronaut David R.  Scott, Gemini 8 - Apollo 9," with his later role on "Apollo 15" added along with the central quote: "To mark man’s conquest of space with time, through time, on time."

We know that Americans love their cosmic heroes, but the organizers have given this watch an estimate that's ten times lower than the previous sales price: USD 200,000.  But RR Auction is much more enthusiastic about the sale of the Rolex GMT-Master "Pepsi" Ref. 1675, serial no. 2448767, which has a trademark Steelinox bracelet.

After all, this piece was worn in space by Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell on the Apollo 14 mission — the third to land people on the Moon. The caseback is engraved: "Worn by Cdr. E. Mitchell on Apollo 14, 1971, To Karlin—My Daughter."

Monaco Stars

But the main event in October has got to be the Exclusive Timepieces Auction organized by Monaco Legend Group (MLG), which will be held on October 19-20 at the principality's Le Méridien Beach Plaza Hotel. We've already discussed an announcement made by MLG to attract potential buyers and consignors to the October sales: they're offering a Patek Philippe Ref. 2438/1 which is possibly unique as a result of numerous revisions made by its previous owner.

The plan worked: the model's upper estimate ultimately reached EUR 1 million, and the catalog for the Exclusive Timepieces Auction filled up with beautiful collector's pieces. Now let's move on to discuss those specific pieces.

Perpetual Patek Philippe

Besides the possibly unique Perpetual Calendar Ref. 2438/1, Patek Philippe will be represented by a very similar Perpetual Calendar Ref. 2497 with sweep center seconds in a 37-mm yellow-gold case. It houses a manually wound 27SC movement.

This model was produced between 1951 and 1963 in very small numbers. These twelve years saw 179 of these Ref. 2497 watches and its waterproof version Ref. 2438/1 delivered before production was discontinued. It was brought back thirty years later in 1993 with a new reference number: Ref. 5050.

A 20th century model in production for less than twenty years is a rarity in and of itself. The cases for Ref. 2497 watches were many by the company Emile Vichet and later by Wenger, and fewer of the latter were made. The model was initially equipped with feuille (leaf) hands, which were later replaced by dauphine hands (French term for the eldest son of the king, or possibly derived from "dolphin").

This particular example of the perpetual calendar has a Wenger case and feuille hands, making it even rarer. But the pre-sale estimate is still very cautious: EUR 240,000 –⁠ 480,000. Almost the same estimate was given to the Patek Philippe Ref. 3979 model.

Suffice to say, this is one of the world's most exquisite wristwatch repeaters. And to top it off, this piece is an anniversary edition dedicated to Patek Philippe's 150th anniversary, and it's the first minute repeater in the manufacture's history with an automatic winding system.

The exquisite case measuring 33 mm in diameter was launched in four versions: platinum, white-, rose- and yellow-gold. A total of around 100 pieces were released in the different case materials.

The yellow-gold version with a white porcelain dial and Roman numerals may have been the most popular in the series, but the case of this particular model was made by the legendary casemaker Jean-Pierre Hagmann. The fact that this watch has been given such a modest estimate is a sign of the times.

First Rolex Day-Date for Sale

Rolex also has an impressive presence at Exclusive Timepieces. The auction favorites include a yellow-gold Daytona "John Player Special" chronograph with a "Paul Newman" dial, which is estimated to fetch EUR 750,000 –⁠ 1,500,000. What makes this model rare is that it's made of 14K gold (these were primarily made for the American market, where hallmark 585 gold is a more affordable option).

On top of that, this example's Jubilee bracelet and remarkable condition make it even rarer. You're essentially looking at the shining Holy Grail for every Rolex collector. The Rolex Day-Date Ref. 6511 was given the same estimate. You might be wondering how the most famous and popular model of all time the world over could be rare.

But this one is special — it's one of the very first five examples of the Day-Date, i.e., a prototype. In 1955, a year before the official watch launch, Rolex produced five pilot pieces in steel 36-mm cases and asked Spanish dealers to test them out in the field before coming back to share their feedback.

Taking the specifics of the local market into account, the designers at Rolex equipped the pilot models with very unusual lacquered dials in a color called Tropical Brown. At the same time, the bezel fitted on the steel cases was made of white gold for added luxury.

Needless to say, the prototypes made waves as the first watches with dials featuring unabbreviated days of the week. For reference, the prototypes had cases engraved with serial numbers ranging from 99272 to 99277.

One of them was acquired by a Spanish collector, who sold it a few decades later to the famous collector John Goldberger. The piece is later mentioned in Pucci Papaleo's book, Day-Date – The Presidential Rolex. This is precisely the one being auctioned off.

Another piece which is bound to attract great interest from Rolex fans is a rare vintage Ref. 3330 chronograph with 12-hour and 30-minute counters from the late 1930s in a steel antimagnetic case measuring 37-mm in diameter with tachymeter and telemeter scales.

It was ordered by the Italian retailer Cravanzola Roma. There are almost none of these chronographs in so-called "pre-Oyster" cases left. That's why the organizers think it has the potential to raise an estimated EUR 180,000 –⁠ 360,000.

Delicious Selection

A number of interesting perpetual calendars by Audemars Piguet will also be offered in Monaco: one of nine known pink-gold Royal Oak Quantieme Perpetuel Ref. 25686OR (estimate EUR 120,000 –⁠ 240,000), and a unique wristwatch version of the Quantieme Perpetuel Calendar Open Face Pocket Watch Ref. 25726BA in a 47-mm yellow-gold case.

The converted pocket watch with its serial number no. 1 was released in the 1990s. And who wouldn't be concerned about the fate of the famous IWC IL Destriero Scafusia? This watch is still considered one of the world's most complicated to this day. When the manufacture marked its 125th anniversary in 1993, they released 125 legendary "Warhorses from Schaffhausen", to use a plural translation of the Latin "Il Destriero Scafusia".

The watches were housed in 42-mm cases, which was enough room to house a minute repeater, a tourbillon, a split-seconds chronograph, and a perpetual calendar with the pioneering full-format four-digit year display. Moreover, the piece listed for auction is a platinum version. That being the case, it's been given quite a conservative estimate: EUR 160,000 –⁠ 320,000. But that's justifiable.

If you've been willfully ignoring the pre-owned watch market's existence for decades and don't have an auction policy, then spoiler alert: even modest three-hand Nautilus watches are often listed much higher than the three most complicated and advanced watches being auctioned off.

The same can be said quite recently of the iconic brand Breguet, which had done very well at the auctions. It's a pity that the current Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek Jr. forgot about his father's idea.

Now the organizers of MLG Exclusive Timepieces are reaping the rewards of this forgetfulness, who hope to raise at least EUR 100,000 –⁠ 200,000 for this rare collector's set of a platinum Breguet Souscription Ref. 3430 pocket watch and Ref. 1819 wristwatch from 1991, believed to be one of fifteen.

And the wristwatch is a minute-repeating perpetual calendar, where the movement and sound chamber have been developed using special alloys created in the group's laboratories. To end on a high note, we'll wrap up this preview of the Monaco auction with the selection of rare models from the iconic Parisian jeweler and watchmaker Cartier.

Participants get to bid on models like the Cartier Tonneau, Gondole, Bamboo Coussin, Ronde and, of course, every possible kind of rare Tanks: Normale, Mini, Asymmetric.

Does all of this mean that we'll soon have a fourth major auction house? We won't try to look too far ahead. All we can say for sure is that the competitors are on the right track, and could produce results to compete with the major auction houses this fall.

Credits provided by: www.phillips.com, www.rrauction.com, www.monacolegendauctions.com