Independents push the Auction Market.
In November 2020, we looked at the market for timepieces by independent watchmakers. So what's changed in the past four years? In 2021 - 2022, a unique and generally illogical situation unfolded: prices for the most popular models began exceeding retail prices on the pre-owned market.
We're not just talking about the big three — Patek Philippe, Rolex and Audemars Piguet — but also the most hyped independent watchmakers. Then there was a rollback on the market, viewed as a totally natural phenomenon. The disappointment felt by many players was understandable and justified, although the adjustments which took place indicate that the market stabilized.
The market's normalization didn't really have much of an effect on niche watchmakers. Their work has remained in very high demand for one very simple reason: annual production capabilities severely limit what they can offer, which is usually in a few dozen or hundred pieces per year per watchmaker.
They rarely exceed 1000 (the approximate maximum output of F. P. Journe), whereas the number of pieces made by Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet hovers between 50 and 100 thousand, and Rolex produces a million or more of their Oyster watches. Even after the market had adjusted, the situation remained the same with a range models made by big brands getting overvalued.
This bubble could well continue to expand, but it's unlikely to affect watches by independent watchmakers, whose prospects on the market are viewed more optimistically. Watches by independent watchmakers are confident offerings on the market, especially those who have already earned themselves a solid reputation, fame, and AHCI membership.
Among other things, this generates increased prestige and interest in niche pieces by lesser known authors (and even newcomers). There were two super achievements in the past on the pre-owned watch market: the Rolex Daytona "Paul Newman" chronograph sold for USD 17 million (2017, Phillips).
And the highly complicated Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 watch, which went for 31 million Swiss francs at Only Watch 2019. After that, the only watches that really caused a stir were probably pieces by independents. First and foremost, we should highlight timepieces by the godfather of the modern independent watchmaking movement: the English watchmaker George Daniels (1926–2011).
He rose to fame, gaining recognition among large swathes of the watch community thanks to his invention of the co-axial escapement industrialized by the brand Omega. Among those in the know about modern watchmaking, he's probably best known for being the protagonist of his profession as an art, the master of doing everything by hand, and for using traditional techniques to create and finish watches and their movements.
Over his career, he made 23 pocket watches and two wristwatches completely by himself, along with a few wristwatch series together with his apprentice Roger Smith. So this master's legacy is extremely limited, which has fueled the enduring active interest in his watches at auctions. This has recently become particularly apparent, and is bound to lead to a rise in sales prices.
Take the auction Phillips held in December 2021 as an example, where a pocket watch by George Daniels known as the Edward Hornby One Minute Tourbillon sold for USD 1.66 million. Less than a year later in November 2022, the double sided Daniels Spring Case Tourbillon from 1992 was sold by Phillips for CHF 4,083,500 (around USD 4.1 million).
This item in a swiveling gold case George Daniels used as an everyday wristwatch for over a decade. That was the moment it became the most expensive British watch ever sold. As we've already mentioned, watches created by George Daniels towards the end of his life were made with help from Roger Smith, another British watchmaker.
You can read about their relationship in our two-part Roger Smith: A British Take on Haute Horlogerie. When Roger Smith parted with Daniels, he continued working under his own Roger W. Smith brand, and now his watches are already attracting growing interest among collectors.
One example worth highlighting is Roger Smith's early Pocket Watch No. 2, the masterpiece he created as an apprentice, which George Daniels finally approved in 1998. It resurfaced at an auction held by Phillips in 2023, where it fetched USD 4.9 million. That's how this apprentice won the title once held by his master, and became the creator of the most expensive British-made pocket watch.
It's also the fourth highest price ever paid for a pocket watch at an auction if we leave out the inflationary adjustment. Another watchmaker whose pieces fare excellently at the auctions is Philippe Dufour — a Swiss independent watchmaker revered alongside George Dainels as one of the most authoritative figures in modern watchmaking.
Prices for watches created by him surpass the mark of one million US dollars, and that goes for the most low-key Simplicity wristwatches too, not just the highly complicated Grande and Petite Sonnerie pocket watches that the master created at the beginning of his career while still working for the brand Audemars Piguet.
In May 2023, a Grande and Petite Sonnerie for Audemars Piguet raised CHF 889,000 (approx. USD 995,000) at an auction held by Phillips. And in November 2023, his steel Simplicity wristwatch with a "Royal Blue" dial sold at Christie's for CHF 945,000 (around USD 1.05 million).
The record for the most expensive Simplicity is currently held by the prototype of the limited Simplicity 20th Anniversary series that Phillips sold in November 2021 for CHF 1.37 million (around USD 1.48 million).
At the same auction, the Grande and Petite Sonnerie No. 1 which Philippe Dufour created at the beginning of his career in 1992 fetched CHF 5,127,000, breaking all previous records set by Philippe Dufour's watches at the auctions.
One watchmaker who has firmly secured himself a place among the masters in the upper echelons is the unparalleled Geneva-based French watchmaker François-Paul Journe. His all-time best result ever at the auctions was achieved by the unique piece Only Watch F. P. Journe × Francis Ford Coppola FFC Blue, which was sold by Christie's in November 2021 for CHF 4,500,000 (around USD 4.9 million).
The results achieved by other watches by F. P. Journe at regular auctions haven't reached such heights. The watches which came closest were a unique Grande and Petite Sonnerie sold at Christie's in November 2021 for 3,054,000 (approx. 3.06 million US dollars), and the F. P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain "Souscription" No. 2/20 circa 1999, which raised CHF 2,707,000 (approx. USD 3.03 million) at Christie's in May 2023.
Apart from that, there are at least eleven other examples by F. P. Journe sold by Christie's which have made it into the auction millionaires club, i.e., sold for a sum in excess of one million US dollars (calculated based on the exchange rate at the time they were sold). Phillips has turned another eleven watches by F. P. Journe into "millionaires".
When it comes to the results achieved at auctions by independent watchmakers who entered the scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, two figures definitely deserve some attention. The first is Vianney Halter, whose watches have been setting new world records since 2020.
The earliest known example Halter Barnes Perpetual Antiqua in yellow gold (No. 4Y, circa 1999) was sold in June 2023 at Phillips for USD 393,700, while the first Vianney Halter Antiqua watch in platinum went for HKD 1,778,000 in October 2023 (around USD 227,000). The second watchmaker who deserves a mention is Kari Voutilainen, whose watches have grown closer and closer to the million mark with each year.
However, this mark was exceeded at the Only Watch auction held by Christie's in November 2021, where the De Bethune x Voutilainen Kind of Magic collaboration generated CHF 1.3 million (around USD 1.4 million) for the organizers of the charity auction. The unique Voutilainen 28 GML Center Dual-Time with an Urushi lacquer dial sold at Christie's regular Hong Kong auctions in the same month of November 2021 for HKD 5,250,000 (around USD 673,000).
The independent watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi is one of the most outstanding members of the generation of independent watchmakers who came onto the scene in the 2010s. Rexhepi established his own brand Akrivia in 2012. His watches also make the million mark.
For instance, the first example from Rexhepi's Chronomètre Contemporain II series was sold at the Only Watch auction held by Christie's in 2021 for CHF 800,000 (approx. USD 870,000). Bidding at the Only Watch auctions tends to be higher than the market average because it's a charity event, but that's not why Rexhepi's watches fetch such high sums.
At an auction held by Phillips in May 2023, an early Chronomètre Contemporain No. 20/25 model raised HKD 7.2 million (around USD 0.92 million), and example No. 12 from the same limited series was sold by Phillips for HKD 6,985,000 (around USD 0.89) in November 2023.
The popularity of the top members of the independent watchmaking movement is clearly going international, and we're not just talking about their collectors, it also applies to the watchmakers. For example, watches by the Japanese independent watchmaker Hajime Asaoka have received a very warm welcome.
His Project T Tourbillon No. 008 created in 2014 was sold at an auction held by Phillips in May 2023 for HKD 1,905,000 (around USD 245,000), which is a world record for independent watchmakers in Asia.
It's very possible that the names of Chinese watchmakers will soon enter the charts, who already have someone to look up to: Kiu Tai Yu (1946–2020), an independent watchmaker who was based in Hong Kong. His watches performed very well recently at an auction held by Phillips in May 2023. His limited Millennium Reference 22 No. 8 out of 20 dedicated to the dawn of the new millennium sold for HKD 635,000 (around USD 81,000).
The outlook for watches by this watchmaker at auctions looks promising, as Kiu Tai Yu is the first watchmaker in Asia to make a tourbillon wristwatch. This title is also given more weight by the fact that he invented his own variety of this legendary complication: the so-called "mystery tourbillon".
Credits: www.patek.com, www.christies.com, www.phillips.com, www.sothebys.com, www.onlywatch.com