New York once again lived up to its reputation as the ‘Big Apple’ at the traditional end of year watch auctions held in December with some big spending and new records set.
Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo brought to market at their 7 December sale a virtually unique F.P.Journe, Francis Ford Coppola’s FFC Prototype wristwatch from 2021. The watch made an outstanding USD $10.7 million, (£8 million), including buyer’s premium. This piece is the headline item for this highlights article. In all Phillips’ New York Watch Auction: XIII sale made a total of $43.5 million, (£32 million), the highest total ever for a watch auction in US history. The sale was ‘White Glove’ with all 144 lots sold and seven lots taking over USD $1 million each.
Sotheby’s also recorded a 100% sold ‘White Glove’ auction for their Important Watches New York sale held on 8 December. The sale achieved a total of USD $42.8 million, (£31.9 million), just under the Phillips auction total. These results indicate the strength of the New York market albeit at the very top end for the best lots. During the sale eight lots topped over USD $1 million. Held in Sotheby’s new Breuer building headquarters the result made it the highest total realised watch auction in Sotheby’s history. This was due in no small part to the inclusion of the superlative Olmsted Complications Collection which alone made USD $22.4 million. In all a total of 1850 registrants from 65 countries participated in the auction.
Over at Christie's New York watch auction held on 9 December the sale totalled USD $9.3 million, (£6.9 million), with 96% of lots sold. The top lot was the Charles Frodsham Silver Grande & Petite Sonnerie Hump‑Back Tourbillon Carriage Clock made in circa 1917 that achieved a tremendous USD $952,500, (£711,883), including buyer’s premium nearly five times its low estimate.
So let’s get into some of the highlights of which I have picked five watches to profile.
Richard's 5 Highlights from The New York Auctions
You have got to hand it to F.P. Journe
Ever since being founded in 1999 by independent watchmaker François-Paul Journe the eponymous brand F.P. Journe has gone from strength to strength. In the vanguard of contemporary independent watchmaking François-Paul Journe has created a remarkable collection of watches. His brand has also found an enthusiastic reception in the auction market.
Who could forget the contribution that F.P. Journe made to the 2021 edition of the charity auction Only Watch in Geneva. The watch he supplied was the incredible F.P. Journe Francis Ford Coppola Blue prototype wristwatch. A watch complete with an ingenious automaton blued hand that displayed the hours via animated fingers. This hand design was inspired by pioneering French surgeon of the 1500s, Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) now widely known as the father of modern surgery. The piece sold for Swiss Franc 4,500,000, (£4,231,840).
Now this December in New York another F.P. Journe Francis Ford Coppola FFC prototype wristwatch has come to the auction market. Offered for sale by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at their New York Watch Auction: XIII sale on 7 December. In this case the watch was specially made for the famed movie director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. As Phillips catalogued there are only three prototypes in existence. One owned by François-Paul Journe himself, the other owned by Francis Ford Coppola, (this watch) and the previously mentioned FFC Blue prototype made for Only Watch 2021.
Importantly to the story of the watch it was the very collaboration between François-Paul Journe and Francis Ford Coppola that lead to the creation of the F.P. Journe FFC Prototype wristwatch. When the two men met over dinner in 2012 at Coppola’s Napa Valley winery they discussed the idea of a replica of a human hand used to indicate time on a watch dial.
As Phillips record it in fact took Journe seven years to integrate all the various aspects needed to create a working watch. The result was the F.P. Journe Francis Ford Coppola FFC prototype wristwatch. The first watch to ever display the time with the use of a single automata human hand model. Journe adapted his Octa calibre 1300.3 movement to power the watch along with a remontoir d’egalité. Ten cams operate the automata movement of the fingers. The New York auctioned piece is from 2021 with a case made of platinum and sized at 42mm in diameter. Accompanied by F.P. Journe Certificate of authenticity, fitted presentation box, outer box, FFC book, and travel sliding box.
And the auction sale price? As Phillips relate after eleven minutes of bidding from across the world the wristwatch eventually sold for USD $10.8 million, (£8.0 million) to an anonymous bidder on the phone. The sale marks a new world auction record for F.P.Journe.
Finally, on the subject of F.P. Journe wristwatches at the Phillips auction of the top 10 highest value watches sold on 7 December eight were F.P. Journe wristwatches. Quite a result!
“Audemars Piguet’s most complicated watch in private hands”
Very few watches can be described as absolute pinnacle pieces, the best of the best, defined by the complexity of their watchmaking, finishing, and their historic context. This December in New York at Sotheby’s Important Watches sale on 8 December such a watch was put up for auction. Part of the renowned Olmsted Complications Collection was a very special Audemars Piguet pocket watch. Described by Sotheby’s as “Audemars Piguet’s most complicated watch in private hands”.
The Audemars Piguet watch titled the “Grosse Pièce”, (large piece), was originally commissioned in 1914 by Smith & Sons of London on behalf of an American client. With the advent of World War One the watch took six years to complete and was eventually delivered to Smith & Sons of London in 1921. As Sotheby’s catalogued recent research by the Audemars Piguet Heritage Department has confirmed that the “Grosse Pièce” is the brand’s only known watch to feature an astronomical star chart complication depicting 18 constellations. It is also the only known Audemars Piguet pocket watch with a tourbillon from this period. In addition the watch has 19 more complications. In fact the “Grosse Pièce” is as equally as complicated as Audemars Piguet’s ‘Universelle’ produced in 1899, which also has 19 complications. This watch takes pride of place in Audemars Piguet’s own museum collection at the Musée Atelier in Le Brassus, Switzerland.
Sotheby’s describe how the watch was fiercely contested over a ten minute bidding battle between four determined collectors. Estimated at USD $500,000 - 1,000,000 the watch sold for a stunning USD $7,736,000, (£5,788,610), including buyer’s premium. This is over seven times the high estimate. This achieved price makes the watch the most valuable timepiece by Audemars Piguet ever sold at auction to date.
Acclaimed modern asymmetrical design takes the prize
Capturing perfectly the mood for smaller stylish elegant wristwatches and contemporary independent watchmaking Berneron’s reference. 3438MS-G02 Mirage Sienna wristwatch takes the prize. Indeed the watchmaker was recently awarded the prestigious 2024 ‘Audacity Prize’ category for the Mirage Sienna at the Fondation du Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) awards. With echoes of Cartier London’s 60s small sized 18k yellow gold cased Crash and Pebble wristwatches the Mirage Sienna is still a thoroughly modern design not just a retro homage. As noted by GPHG about the watch, ‘The Mirage is the first shaped watch to draw its asymmetry from its calibre, rather than from an external free shape’.
Berneron was co-founded in 2022 by Sylvain Berneron, a French designer and former Chief Product Officer at Breitling and Marie-Alex Berneron, an architect and former product developer for Chanel Horlogerie. Berneron SA is based in the historic watchmaking canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. When released in 2024, the Mirage quickly became a success attracting critical acclaim culminating in the GPHG award. The hand-wound calibre 233 was developed in association with Le Cercle des Horlogers and measures just 2.33mm thick with the full case height only 7mm. Extensive use is made of 18k yellow gold including the beautiful case, the dial, hands, buckle, crown, mainplate, bridges and even the spring bars.
On Berneron’s website the 34mm width x 38mm diameter 18k yellow gold Mirage Sienna model is priced at Swiss Franc 65,000 (£61,000). Only 24 examples are made per year which are already allocated.
Which brings us to the present example as auctioned by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at their New York Watch Auction: XIII on 7 December. With the allocation of new watches full the chance to buy a near new 2024 Berneron Mirage Sienna 38mm diameter wristwatch proved to be very tempting. Estimated at USD $40,000 - 80,000 the watch made an excellent USD $190,500 (£178,960) including buyer’s premium. Nearly three times the list price for a new watch.
Hot take on the Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto
Titled ‘The Red Hot One’ a watch design collaboration between Christopher Ward x Andrew Morgan x seconde-seconde has resulted in a very distinct red dial version of a C1 Bel Canto chiming watch. This 2025 Piece Unique titanium automatic semi-skeletonized wristwatch has just been sold by Sotheby’s in New York on 8 December. The watch was auctioned to benefit both the Horological Society of New York and the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers.
With no reserve and a guide estimate of USD $5,000 - 10,000 the watch fetched a fine USD $22,860, (£17,080), including buyer’s premium.
Based on a limited edition collaboration between Christopher Ward and Andrew Morgan which created the ‘The Red One’ this watch went one stage further. For this Piece Unique ‘watch-remixer’ seconde-seconde joined the collab designing a unique gong colour coating and impact flash on the deep red dial where the hammer strikes. Even the case back too has an etched thermal ring motif. The resulting collab is titled ‘The Red Hot One’! The watch is presented on a white Delugs rubber strap with stainless steel Christopher Ward double folding clasp.
This is not the first collaboration between Christopher Ward and seconde-seconde. The first collab produced the fun limited edition model titled ‘The Desk Diver’.
Back to the C1 Bel Canto wristwatch the original model was designed, as noted on the Christopher Ward website, by William Brackfield and Adrian Buchmann, and CW’s head of product development, Jörg Bader Junior. The FS01 movement was created by CW technical director Frank Stelzer who built in a Sonnerie au Passage complication which chimes on the hour, every hour.
‘The Red Hot One’ wristwatch sold at Sotheby’s was accompanied by a unique orange red presentation box and outer packaging, guarantee card, owner's handbook, polishing cloth, and additional set of white rubber straps, 'The Red One' Bel Can-Toe Socks, and Andrew Morgan pin.
Glashütte masterpiece
In 1990 Walter Lange, the great grandson of Ferdinand Adolph Lange and Günter Blümlein re-establish the renowned family watchmaking brand A. Lange & Söhne. The location is in the old watchmaking town of Glashütte now in the reunified modern Germany. A. Lange & Söhne was originally founded 1845 and has acquired a reputation for horological excellence.
To celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of A. Lange & Söhne in 1845 the brand went all out to create the ‘Homage to F. A. Lange” 175th Anniversary Collection’ consisting of three new limited edition watches. The pieces were launched at Watches & Wonders 2020 in Shanghai, China. One of three was the technically outstanding and superbly crafted Tourbograph Perpetual 'Pour le Mérite Homage to F. A. Lange' Honeygold, reference. 706.050FE wristwatch limited to just 50-pieces worldwide.
Cased in 18k honey gold the 43 mm diameter watch is a ‘Tour de Force’ in terms of watchmaking and materials. Powered by a Calibre. L133.1 mechanical movement the watch is equipped with multiple complications including fusée-and-chain transmission, tourbillon, chronograph, and a rattrapante (split-seconds) function plus a perpetual calendar.
Sotheby’s featured watch number 20 out of 50 wristwatches at their New York, Important Watches auction held on 8 December. Estimated at USD $300,000 - 600,000 the piece achieved a top of the estimate result selling at USD $596,900, (£446,380), including buyer’s premium.
© Banner Photo courtesy of Phillips.
