Piece uniques for a good cause.

During offseason for large auction houses, the watch market is living for the hotly anticipated Only Watch 2023 charity auction, which Christie's will hold on November 5 in Geneva's Palexpo exhibition center.  Last month, we discussed what will be unveiled by Patek Philippe, F. P. Journ, Laurent Ferrier and Kari Voutilainen. This article will introduce you to more of the most interesting lots. 

It's worth remembering that Only Watch has been held since 2005. Its main and most attractive condition for collectors and investors is that participating watchmakers can only offer unique timepieces for the auction.

They can be versions of iconic models created using unconventional materials, popular watches numbered as a series first, or they may well be totally unparalleled one-off masterpieces launched especially for the auction. All funds raised by the auction go towards a charity for research to help children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Richard Mille "Talisman Origine"

Not so long ago, archaeologists working in the Swiss Alps discovered a rather complex golden pendant in a wooden receptacle that resembled a heart-shaped shield. After examining the find, research teams concluded that this millennia-old pendant was made by one of the tribes that dwelled in what were then the wild Swiss Alps.

Richard Mille has decided to create a modern timepiece worn around the neck, which pays tribute to this artifact. Richard Mille's pendant is a complex combination of varied intricate symbols in briarwood, gold, titanium and rhodonite, threaded on a metal and rubber string. His talisman is presented in a signature Tonneau-shaped case measuring 77.25 mm × 46.77 mm × 13.10 mm made of red gold with a titanium caseband.

It houses an in-house skeletonized automatic CRMT5 tourbillon movement. The case is equipped with two winding crowns in a balance which most likely symbolizes the sun and moon. The one-of-a-kind golden wooden relic has really been created with great accuracy, secured with a shield receptacle at the end.

The Richard Mille "Talisman Origine" pendant watch is referenced RM S14. The auction's organizers have given this modern artifact of Swiss culture a fairly decent estimate: CHF 600,000 – 800,000 (about EUR 618,000 – 824,000). All the more so when you consider that the unique Richard Mille by Philippe Starck Automatic Caliber RM 005-1 in white gold only sold for EUR 285,000 way back in 2005...

Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Antimagnétique

For quite a number of years now, almost every collector has dreamed of owning a hand-crafted chronometer by the Albanian watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi, perfected in both a technical and an aesthetic sense.

But Rexhepi only releases a few dozen watches per year, so growth in demand and a virtual absence of offers have led to a sharp rise in prices for Mr. Rexhepi's watches on the pre-owned watch market. Every new model by this watchmaker sparks massive interest from fans of his creations.

For Only Watch 2023, Rexhepi has created the Chronomètre Antimagnétique: a very compact vintage-style steel watch. It has an integrated Faraday cage that protects the movement by blocking electromagnetic fields with a caseback that can be unscrewed to reveal a second sapphire cover.

Beneath this caseback lies an exceptionally hand-finished in-house movement with a new design that's stunningly beautiful. By the way, the 38-mm case of the unique watch was made by none other than Jean-Pierre Hagmann, renowned for the cases he's made for special watches by Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet and other famous maisons.

Mr. Hagmann actually retired in 2017, but the perfection of Rexhep Rexhepi's watches lured him back, and he's made a recent return to haute horlogerie. The watch has what's referred to as a "scientific" matte black dial. Its detailed scales and markings filled with gold enamel fired in an oven. The new Chronomètre Antimagnétique model is referenced RRCA. The lot has been given an estimate of CHF 100,000 – 150,000 (about EUR 103,000 – 154,500).

Ludovic Ballouard X Brittany Nicole Cox Upside Down Blue Feather

In line with our predictions, collaborations between artisans and small independent brands are producing more and more interesting watches. The watchmaker Ludovic Ballouard who gained experience working for Franck Muller and F. P. Journe before going his own way has teamed up with the artist Brittany Nicole Cox to present an interesting model called the Upside Down Blue Feather.

It's a very strange name but an accurate description of what the watch essentially represents. Time is indicated using Ballouard's upside-down movement with a single central minute hand and a rather clever, significantly honed jump-hour mechanism.

A scale with twelve disks runs along the flange of the dial. These disks are inscribed with numerals for the hours. Eleven of the numbers are always upside-down, and only the numeral disk that represents the current hour is "grounded" and the right way around.

The photograph of the model for the auction shows a traditional time for watch presentation: ten past ten. If we take this time as our starting point, the disk with the number "10" will turn 180 degrees when we reach eleven o'clock, while the disk bearing the number "11" will turn the right way around, and a white dot will appear to its right to indicate the current hour.

The dial engraved using the guilloché engine-turning technique demonstrates a fine work of watchmaking and jewelry art. It's been decorated by hand with a unique guilloché pattern by Brittany Nicole Cox.

The pattern reproduces the silhouette of birds in flight, which the author believes symbolize hope, generosity and a feeling of protection. The case measuring 41 mm in diameter is made of platinum. The model's estimate is CHF 60,000 - 90,000 (around EUR 61,800 – 92,700).

H.  Moser X MB&F Streamliner Pandamonium

One of the most interesting models at the Only Watch auction is a minute repeater created by two of the most creative minds in modern haute horlogerie: Maximilian Büsser and Edouard Meylan. What's more, this is their first musical collaboration.

The first thing that catches your eye on this watch is the intricate composition on the dial with a huge balance wheel (14 mm in diameter). It floats above the surface, secured by a V-shaped bridge. Beneath the balance is a Straumann double hairspring and escape wheel with an anchor escapement. The next thing you notice is the miniature statuette of a panda DJ cast in white gold.

And it happens to be an automaton: the panda moves its arms when the minute repeater is activated. To the left of the panda on both sides of its turntable is where you find the imposing steel repeater hammers that strike the gong encircling the dial. Only then do you notice the tiny hour and minute hands at 2 o'clock. No scales have been provided to indicate the time.

And there's really no need for them here, as you can tell the time by activating the minute repeater using the lateral sliding bolt with a Teflon runner. Then you'll notice that the case exhibits features of the very trendy watches in the sporty Streamliner collection by H. Moser & Cie. The case is made of regular stainless steel, not gold, and certainly not platinum.

That's because stainless steel is the material that possesses ideal properties for chiming watches. The case measures 42.3 mm in diameter and 17 mm in height including the sapphire crystal, and just 12.7 mm without it. The shade chosen for the dial is aquamarine fumé.

Needless to say, every self-respecting collector hopes that this beautiful watch will motivate the creative duet to continue collaborating. The lot has been given a pre-sale estimate of CHF 300,000 - 400,000 (about EUR 309,000 – 412,000).

Girard-Perregaux Neo Constant Escapement Only Watch Edition 

Two bridges without a tourbillon yet with the famous trademark Constant Escapement, where the role of the regulating organ and balance spring is played by a silicon rod (its creators prefer to refer to it as a blade).

This silicon blade is 14 microns thick. It doesn't oscillate, but pulses at a traditional watchmaking frequency of 3 Hz or 21,600 vph. Silicon monoxide is a monstrously durable material. It's capable of flexing forever with terrific stability, regardless of the degree to which the mainspring is wound.

Energy is delivered at a far more stable rate than in a traditional lever escapement. The Constant Escapement can withstand magnetism, and ensure the watch almost the same level of timekeeping accuracy as a quartz movement. All earlier models with this exceptional escapement had complicated designs that were explicitly geared towards demonstrating this technological feat.

And strange as it may seem, this remarkable innovative watch has ceased to stand out. It falls into countless ranks of every imaginable skelo-tech watch — skeleton watches that lean towards a technical style. Watch manufacturers have oversaturated the market, which has been overfed to the point of indigestion. But nine years ago, it was already clear that the first Constant Escapement model with a more or less luxurious traditional appearance had very serious chances of succeeding.

And now we've finally been given the beautiful neoteric version we've all been waiting for in a 45-mm pink-gold case. Sure, it's still a semi-skeleton watch: the plate of caliber GP-09200-2196 is also pared back here, but to a far lesser extent, and the pink-gold coating on the mainspring barrels creates a holistic impression. The balance wheel is held by a powerful bridge that mirrors similar support on the iconic Girard-Perregaux Tourbillon With Three Flying Bridges model.

And both escape wheels are secured by two rose-gold half bridges that come together to form a unified second bridge. The model's power reserve has been further extended to 7 days. It's interesting that the watch has been created like a coin: the reverse side is almost identical to the dial side, although it looks like what you'd see on a traditional vintage pocket watch.

At the same time, the black nickel-treated lume-filled hands and indexes can be considered a nod to this model's established traditional technical style. The auction's organizers have given the lot a fairly cautious, fuzzy estimate: CHF 140,000 - 220,000 (about EUR 144,200 – 226,600). The difference between the lower and upper estimate is fairly significant.

Credits taken from: www.onlywatch.com, www.watchonista.com, Axel Bastello ©️