What has happened in the last month of fall besides the auctions?

The Oscars of Watchmaking, yet another "very last" steel Nautilus 5711, and Yoko Ono's Patek Philippe Ref. 2499: the global community of collectors weren't just living for the big three auction houses in November.

Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève 2024

One of the interesting news events was the announcement of prizewinners at the one and only international watchmaking awards show, the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). Needless to say, the GPHG went ahead without any entries from Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Swatch Group brands, or the majority of Richemont and LVMH brands.

So what impact could this event have on the pre-owned watch market and collectors, especially when you consider the absence of many watchmaking greats? Well, it does have an impact. There's a good reason why Christie's has a long-term partnership with Fondation de Haute Horlogerie who organize the awards show.

The auction house took on the responsibility of organizing the international exhibition tour of nominated timepieces from the GPHG. The organizers of the GPHG are agenda-driven to a certain degree. But the jury of the GPHG would hardly to fault them. The jury has brought together top-class professionals in recent years.

They know how to pick out true nuggets of watchmaking gold amidst all the marketing bunk. At the end of the day, we have this competition to thank for bringing watchmakers to fame like François-Paul Journe, Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen, Svend Andersen, and Rexhep Rexhepi.

This year, the jury shone a spotlight on glorious work by Laurent Ferrier, Bernhard Lederer, Sylvain Pinaud x Massena Lab, MING, and Rémy Cools. It was very heartening to see the Special Jury Prize for exceptional contribution to the development of high-quality watchmaking going to Jean-Pierre Hagmann, who is probably the greatest living case maker. 

And do you know where the creator of many great models for Patek Phillippe and Vacheron Constantin now works? For Rexhep Rexhepi at Akrivia! We only see one issue here.

How was Hermès left without an award? It's not a good look to ignore such a renowned and promising perennial contributor. And besides, the great Van Cleef & Arpels in every sense of the word probably wouldn't have been too offended if they'd been awarded two prizes instead of three.

One Last Nautilus 5711

At the very end of the month, the global community of collectors collectively winched. At the low-key Children Action 2024 charity gala auction, Patek Philippe introduced the unique (and another very last) version of the steel Nautilus Ref. 5711/1500A, featuring a hand-decorated case and bracelet with impactful ethnic motifs inspired by New Zealand's Maori.

The model has a dark gray dial with a barely detectable brownish hue. The watch came with matching Patek Philippe cufflinks with their own reference number: 205/9057A-010.

Needless to say, the children's auction sparked a serious bidding battle among the grown-ups vying for the masterpiece, and the watch ultimately sold for CHF 6.7 million (about USD 7.56 million), trumping the final sales price of USD 6.5 million paid at an auction three years ago for the Nautilus Ref. 5711/1A-018 with a "Tiffany & Co" dial.

As the timepiece went under the hammer, a new world record was set for the simple Ref. 5711 automatic steel sports watch. The Children Action charity was established exactly 30 years ago in Geneva by the Swiss businessman Bernard Sabrier.

The foundation helps disadvantaged children in many countries around the world and has already made a difference to the lives of over 215 thousand beneficiaries. By the way, the charity sale was conducted by Phillips Bacs & Russo.

Yoko Ono's Perpetual Calendar

A little earlier in November, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court put an end to the lengthy legal battle for ownership of the Patek Philippe Ref. 2499 once owned by the great musician John Lennon. The ruling confirmed his widow Yoko Ono as its rightful owner.

And it seems fair — she was the one who gave Lennon the watch as a gift for his 40th birthday on October 9, 1980, just two months before his death. Interestingly, Lennon didn't appear to like the watch and wasn't spotted wearing it around.  

There's only appears to be one photo showing John Lennon with the recognizable perpetual calendar chronograph on his wrist, deliberately showing it off, but he couldn't seem to resist it with this iconic perpetual calendar chronograph. Its caseback was engraved: (JUST LIKE). STARTING OVER. LOVE YOKO. 10.9.1980. N.Y.C.

The watch was allegedly stolen by a man called Koral Karsan — Yoko Ono's chauffeur and lover. He later transferred it to a friend identified as Erhan G. as collateral for a loan, whose last name can't be disclosed according to German law. Erhan G. subsequently consigned the watch for auction online, where it was quite legitimately acquired by the Italian watch dealer and collector Maurizio de Simone for EUR 600,000.

Fairly recently, his son Julian turned to the experts at Christie's Geneva to confirm the watch's authenticity for sale. Then the experts got in touch with Yoko Ono, who immediately filed a lawsuit, demanding her watch be returned. Julian de Simone asked for the sum his father paid for the watch to be returned, but the Swiss Federal Court firmly dismissed his appeal.

At the upcoming December auctions in New York, it's unlikely that this watch will resurface at one of the sales organized by the big three auction houses. But we can't rule out that this remarkable event could happen as early as next year. The watch is in excellent condition, and it's not in need of any pre-sale restoration work. So why not?

The experts have already begun speculating about how much John Lennon's Patek Philippe Ref. 2499 could raise. Estimates range from USD 10 million to USD 40 million. The upper estimate raises some doubts, but the lower estimate looks very realistic. We'll have to wait and see.

At last, but not least

At the very of November a unique F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance, made by F.-P. Journe especially for tht auction with the number 638-RQ, was sold at the charity ball of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation with the support by Phillips. The watch received a platinum case, a dark red dial with grey ruthenium sectors.

Unlike the regular variant, both dials are decorated with Chinese characters. While the figures on the right dial are modern Chinese characters, for the left dial the symbols used in Chinese sources from 3000 years ago have been taken. And engraved on the platinum of the gold movement is the Prince Albert Foundation's dedication ‘S.A.S Albert II Singapore 2024’.

At the end of the auction, the watch found a new owner for $2.98 million - if we're not mistaken, this is the second result for a Journe watch with resonance (the first was set in 2021 for the ‘Souscription’ n°1 and totalled CHF 3.9 million). All the money raised has been donated to charity. And this is the third time that the watch manufacture has supported the auction with its unique works.

Credits provided by: www.phillips.com, www.remycools.com, watchesbysjx.com, 
www.patek.com, www.gphg.org