The big three auction houses raised almost 60 million dollars.

The large auctions held by the big three — Phillips, Sotheby's and Christie's — ended with the June sessions in New York, which generated a combined total of USD 57.6 million for their organizers. Frankly, they could have raised more, but it's still not a bad result in the current climate.

Phillips Continues to Lead

The leading auction house for the past few years, Phillips With Association Bacs & Russo, raised more than the rest again. A total of 149 lots were auctioned off and fetched USD 23,362,655. And by the way, this was another white glove sale, i.e. every lot put up for auction was sold.

The possibly unique Philippe Dufour Duality from 1999 in a white-gold case was probably the most expensive lot by a long-shot, which was given an estimate of USD 800,000 – 1,600,000 and sold for a solid USD 2,056,500. So what makes this piece so special? It's worth considering the actual watchmaker's story here.

Philippe Dufour cut his teeth at the Jaeger-LeCoultre manufacture before founding his own tiny independent company in 1978. His first pieces were five Grande & Petite Sonnerie pocket watches, which were actually snapped up there and then by Audemars Piguet, who launched them in their own name while paying due recognition to their original author.

Once Dufour had earned a decent amount of money, he spent a little over two years developing and manufacturing a number of Grand et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch models in his own name and set a world record: these were the world's first wristwatches combining such striking mechanisms.

The watchmaker continued to develop his wristwatches, and he was also the first to create a wristwatch movement combining two escapements in his Duality, where two balances are connected by a differential to allow the balances to average out their rates. This achieves a phenomenal level of timekeeping accuracy in a wristwatch.

It's hard to believe now, but fans of haute horlogerie considered these watches too complicated and unjustifiably expensive just a quarter of a century ago.

The watchmaker who had taken on apprentices by the time it was released was forced to halt work on the Duality series so that he and his team could keep putting food on the table by launching the Simplicity watches, which were seen by contemporaries as more affordable.

The white-gold piece offered at the auction is considered unique for its extra dial and hands. And when you factor in the uniquely high demand for work by this watchmaker on the pre-owned watch market, that's how you get such a solid final sales price.

The maestro has explained his success with the following phrase: "The value of my timepieces is in the handwork and the craftsmanship. I put a part of myself in my watches, and the owner can feel that." Notice how the watchmaker doesn't say one word about technical advances or how revolutionary his watches are, instead choosing to emphasize the finishing and decoration rendered by hand.

But we believe that the synthesis of technical and decorative perfection is what collectors and investors from around the world love about Philippe Dufour's watches. By the way, a Philippe Dufour Simplicity watch also made the top-ten most expensive lots (USD 533,400, seventh place).

What makes this model rare is its 37-mm white-gold case (the original model had a 34-mm case like the Duality watches), and the fact that it was made in 2004. Moreover, this watch was clearly bumped up by the Duality's successful sale.

Second place at the New York Auction: X was occupied by yet another unique interior clock by the iconic Parisian fine jeweler and luxury watchmaker Cartier. A number of similar pieces have already been auctioned off this year, so we can be fairly confident that Cartier is behind these pièce-unique sales.

The watchmaker has decided to implement a serious auction policy, tactically enriching all major auction platforms with extremely interesting models from their vaults over the past couple of years. First we saw pieces from the Tank Crash and Asymétrique series, and now the turn has come for interior clocks.

The Single Axle model from the renowned Mystery Clock series had been given a cautious pre-sale estimate of USD 300,000 – 600,000. In the end, it  sold for USD 1,047,750. The masterpiece is housed in a case measuring 27.5 cm in height and 13.5 cm in width.

Its rock-crystal dial is encased in a turquoise and yellow-gold frame that stands on a jade base, and is further embellished by diamonds, pearls, onyx, and coral. The dragon-shaped hands are hand-carved from white gold.

The top three was rounded out by another clear bidder's favorite: the legendary Rolex Ref. 6239 "Paul Newman" Cosmograph Daytona with a "John Player Special" dial in a full-gold case — 18K gold, not 14K gold. This model is so rare that it's become a household name among collectors (only approximately 300 pieces were cased in 18K yellow gold between 1963 and 1969).

Whenever someone expresses a desire to own a truly rare model like a steel Patek Philippe Ref. 1518, someone else will often jokingly ask whether they'd like to obtain a full-gold "Paul Newman" Daytona with a black "John Player Special" dial while they're at it. In other words, this dream is comparable to wanting your own time machine.

So you might be wondering why the buyer only paid USD 1 million for it. The thing is that this piece was only described as well-preserved — perhaps a way of putting poor condition lightly — and it recently paid a visit to the Rolex Atelier de Restauration, where it might have lost its collector's virginity.

Overall, repairs and restoration undoubtedly have a negative impact on the final sales price. Another steel Daytona with a "Paul Newman Panda" dial rounded out the top ten: Ref. 6265 from 1971 on a steel bracelet.

The watches in fourth to sixth place were perpetual calendars by Patek Philippe: the platinum minute repeating monopusher chronograph Ref. 5208P (USD 939,800), the yellow-gold Ref. 1518 from 1945 with a regular chronograph function (USD 762,000), and the rare steel split-seconds chronograph Ref. 5004A-001 (USD 685,800). None of these models exceeded their upper estimates.

British Masters' Failed Debut

Apart from the sudden appearance of unique interior clocks by Cartier on auction platforms, this year will also be remembered for the unusual resurgence in work by British watchmakers. The success of work by the late George Daniels and prolific Roger Smith have clearly inspired contemporary watchmakers.

Many of them have decided to seize the moment and ride the wave of interest in creations by the founding fathers of modern watchmaking. Owners of the most interesting British timepieces offered a decent amount of them at the New York sales, predominantly pocket watches.

But as they say: you snooze, you lose. Well, this isn't an ideal time for luxury business expansion. Despite the fact that bidders were primed for the influx of British timepieces, and a host of respected watch media outlets carried promotional articles, their debut was a blur.

For instance, only one British timepiece by Charles Frodsham made it into the top ten at one of the big three American auctions. It's a minute repeating Grande Sonnerie pocket watch with a perpetual calendar and tourbillon in a huge 75-mm yellow-gold case with a hinged caseback.

For all its uniqueness and complexity, it only raised USD 533,400. This allowed Frodsham to secure eight place at Phillips. It's also worth mentioning the watch in ninth place: the remarkable and famous F.P. Journe Centigraphe Souverain "F" chronograph went for USD 482,600.

You could have a lengthy debate about whether this watch is capable of physically freezing time intervals with an accuracy of up to a hundredth of a second while running at a traditional balance frequency of 21,600 vph, and whether the smallest possible second-hand increment at this frequency would just be a sixth of a second, but it's simply a beautiful watch. 

Moreover, they could only be ordered from the F. P. Journe boutiques when the model was launched, only upon special request, and the design received a final confirmation from none other than Jean Todt — Ferrari's CEO at the time. It was one of a limited edition of just 20 pieces.

Another achievement at the Phillips New York Auction: X that deserves very close attention is the success of the one-man Japanese indie watchmaker Hajime Asaoka. The impressive Hajime Asaoka Tourbillon PURA model in a 40-mm steel case sold for USD 361,950 — double the midpoint of its pre-sales estimate.

Securing 14th place at the New York auctions is a real feat for a watchmaker whose name isn't even known to all the experts. And maybe this could mark the beginning of a long love story for collectors around the world.

We won't see Phillips again until September after this auction, when a couple of online auctions and first major fall auctions will be held — Phillips Watches Online Auction: the Geneva Sessions and the Hong Kong Sessions.

 Controversial Sotheby's

The world's largest auction house sold USD 21 million worth of watches in New York. This was a fairly solid result, and not too far behind Phillips. But that's only if you combine the results of two auctions: Important Watches, which took place on June 5, and Fine Watches, which closed on June 11. Truth be told, nothing special happened at the second auction.

The top lot there was the F. P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain à Remontoir d'Égalité avec Seconde Morte "Joaillerie" model from 2010 (USD 576,000). Two Patek Philippe models barely made the USD 100,000 mark (Ref. 5270R-001 and Ref. 5980/AR-001), while others were either withdrawn or hovered around the USD 50,000 mark.

The top lot at Important Watches was of course Patek Philippe's already iconic white-gold minute repeater Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300G-010 from 2021. And it wasn't just down to the model in this case, which happens to be the most complicated wristwatch series by this great watchmaker, but the identity of its former owner had an impact.

That's because it once belonged to none other than Sylvester Stallone for a whole two and a half years, which is confirmed by the personalized "Mr. SYLVESTER STALLONE" engraving on the presentation box and the Certificate of Origin dated December 15, 2021, which also confirms Stallone as the original purchaser. 

The watch was accompanied by a gift-edition Grandmaster Chime book stamped Sylvester Stallone, cufflinks, a travel case, an Apple iPad with Patek Philippe leather case, an Apple charger, earpods with a Patek Philippe case, and a personally signed handwritten note from Stallone.

The full set and the successful convergence of exceptional circumstances for the grand maison bumped the final sales price up to USD 5,400,000. Well, Sly made a tidy profit! And a big one if you consider the fact that the model retailed for around 2.2 million three years ago.

Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern's comment on the sale was fairly surprising: "Of course, we do not like it, but it can happen. I cannot control everybody. It is not fair for a client who may have been waiting for this piece for many years and then sees it being sold."

It later came to light that Stallone had sent a number of letters directly to the Patek Philippe board, begging to be granted the right to purchase this watch, and pledging his eternal love to Patek Philippe. After that, some collectors thought that Sylvester Stallone would never sell another rare model by Patek Philippe. Just not us.

Sly is Sly at the end of the day, even though he may not have a reputation for being the biggest watch collector. He's still a very famous collector with a gigantic PR potential. Moreover, surely Patek Phillippe must take some of the blame for the colossal hype surrounding their rare models.

To put it mildly, it'd be naive to launch such coveted watches in such miserly series for such huge sums of money and expect buyers to have a pure love for them forever and ever. Indeed, part of the reason why these watches are so coveted is because of the opportunities they offer, as Sylvester Stallone proved to the world with this sale. 

Once lot 57 sold to secure first place, you could feel the tension subside in the room. No less than five models tipped to make the top ten with estimates ranging from USD 600,000 to 1,200,000 were withdrawn from the auctions altogether due to the low bids.

And even the Holy Grail for all collectors — Patek Philippe's Ref. 2499 perpetual calendar chronograph (a rare third series model from 1977 in yellow gold, preserved in excellent condition) — only raised USD 564,000 (second place). Third place was occupied by another piece from Sylvester Stallone's collection, which went for USD 492,000.

This was a Nautilus Ref. 5711/1300A-001 from 2021. What makes this piece valuable is that it's one of the last jewelry versions of the steel Nautilus, and it has a bezel encrusted with baguette-cut diamonds.

In January 2021, Thierry Stern had already announced the impending discontinuation of Ref. 5711A. But Sly seems to have stocked up on too many of these pieces too. He bought this model for around USD 95,000. Overall, the top ten featured six models by Patek Philippe, three by Richard Mille, and one by Kari Voutilainen.

Other pieces by Patek Phillippe worth mentioning are the Ref. 1436 chronograph from 1940 in pink gold with a pink-gold dial (USD 408,000), and the platinum Ref. 5078P-010 minute repeater from 2010. Richard Mille's RM36-01 CA-Ti AO G-Sensor Tourbillon Sébastien Loeb model went for USD 324,000.

And Voutilainen's unique decimal repeater from 2013 was bound to make the top ten, where almost everything is decorated by hand (USD 408,000). 

We can sum up by saying that Sotheby's Important Watches offered a particularly large number of watches by Richard Mille, Patek Philippe Nautilus watches, and of course, all sorts of Rolex Daytonas and Oysters from the Professional line.

When the sale closed, Sotheby's surprised participants on the pre-owned watch market by announcing that Mr. Geoff Hess would be taking over as the new Global Head of Watches from that day, who Sotheby's had won over from Phillips.

Christie's Took a Break

Against the backdrop of competitors who have been very active in the watch department of late, Christie's performance was extremely modest, who sold just 118 watches to raise a sales total of USD 13,254,772. Richard Mille's performance made the organizers particularly pleased, whose watch topped the leaderboard. 

Richard Mille unveiled the first version of his watch in a fully transparent sapphire case ten years ago at the SIHH (Salon Internationale de la Haute Horlogerie) in Geneva. The model was already priced around EUR 1,300,000 back then.

A year later, Mille decided to improve the model by getting rid of the bridges that secured the movement to the case, replacing them with mini titanium suspension cables. This was not only done with the aim of maximizing the view of the movement, but also to increase resistance to accidental jolts and shocks.

The suspension cords turned out to be prone to temperature changes, which led to the capsule either flapping around inside the case or the opposite — the cords would get so tense they could snap. The watchmaker had to develop a special pulley-and-cord system with mechanical sensors to measure the tension in the cords.

These sensors naturally necessitated an additional indicator that would show the tension readings, and a miniature ratchet that would allow the watch owner to relax or tighten the cords on demand. All of this increased the price by roughly another EUR 700,000.

But the model looks like an incredible technical wonder to this day. The service date came around last year for this one of ten pieces in the limited edition. Neither the watches nor their owners called for repairs. And this year, the RM 56-02 nicknamed "the Billionaire’s Handshake" resurfaced at the auctions for the first time.

These aren't the best of times, but it still sold for USD 3,014,500. An impressive result! Second place at Christie's Important Watches New York was secured by another rare model by Richard Mille: the RM52-01 CA-FQ white quartz carbon TPT Skull Tourbillon from 2018, where the movement's base plate is shaped like a skull with two extra bridges that resemble crossbones. 

Together, they form the pirate's Jolly Roger symbol. Mille released ten pieces, one of which resurfaced at the New York sales. The lot sold for USD 1,260,000 — almost exactly double its retail price. They love Richard Mille in the United States — they love him a lot. Another RM74-02 Tourbillon took fourth place when it sold for USD 403,200.

But the watch that came third was last year's sensation: Rolex Ref. 6062 with a "stelline" dial. Yet it barely surpassed its lower estimate, and sold for USD 567,000. Another Rolex Daytona Ref. 6263 from 1979 took sixth place (USD 252,000).

Models by François-Paul Journe occupied fifth and eight place: his platinum Tourbillon Souverain Ruthenium Tourbillon with power reserve and dead-beat seconds (USD 352,800) and Chronomètre à Résonance with a 24-hour time display (USD 226,800).

Patek Philippe's timepieces came seventh and ninth: the Nautilus Travel Time Ref. 5990/1A-001 retailed by Tiffany and Co. (USD 239,400) and the Ref. 10001M-001 Dome Table Clock with "Ocean-Going Vessels" Cloisonné Enamel Decoration (USD 189,000).

And the list of the top-ten most expensive timepieces was rounded out by Maximilian Büsser's perpetual calendar: the Ref. 03.PL.W MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual from 2015.

This very interesting watch which has a calendar mechanism with Stephen McDonnell's revolutionary architecture went for USD 176,400. And you could say this is a well-deserved and legitimate success for МB&F. Christie's didn't feature much else memorable.

But the most interesting or perhaps even worrying thing is that the major auction house hasn't even set a date for their first fall auction yet. It's hard to recall the last time that happened.

Credits taken from: www.christies.com, www.phillips.com, www.sothebys.com