Record prices are predicted when three watches by the ‘Founding Father of Independent Watchmaking’ go under the hammer at Phillips’ Geneva Watch Auction: XVI in Association with Bacs & Russo on 5-6 November.
Among the three watches is a unique Spring Case Tourbillon in yellow gold, which will go for sale with a cryptic estimate of ‘in excess of CHF 1m (approx. £873,000)’.
One of just four unique wristwatches that Daniels made in his lifetime (two for his personal use), along with 23 pocket watches, the Spring Case Tourbillon, completed in 1992, features a double-dial with one-minute tourbillon and calendar.
The hand-guillochéd silver dial shows hours, minutes and intersecting seconds plus a subdial with power reserve indicator. The spring case allows the watch to be opened to reveal the back dial that shows the calendar indication and tourbillon escapement.
Daniels’ signature Co-axial movement with one-minute tourbillon is housed in the inner section of the case and the crown is cleverly situated between the lugs. Worn by the master himself for more than a decade, Daniels was persuaded to sell the piece to a friend in 2005, where it remained until now when it comes up for public sale for the very first time.
In addition to the Spring Case Tourbillon, Phillips will also offer a yellow-gold Anniversary watch with an estimate of CHF 300,000-600,000 (approx. £262,000-524,000).
A collaboration with Daniels’ apprentice – the only one he had in his lifetime – Roger W Smith, the watches were made in a series of 35 pieces to mark the 35th Anniversary of the invention of the Co-axial escapement. Work began on the manually wound watches with power reserve indicator, calendar mechanism and seconds dial in 2008 – three years before Daniels’ death.
Earlier this year, a rare platinum Anniversary sold at Phillips New York for US$2.4m (approx. £2m), becoming the most expensive British wristwatch to sell at auction and indicating the potential for Daniels’ watches.
The final piece is a yellow-gold Millennium – the first collaboration between Daniels and Smith, and made to mark the year 2000 – which was made in an edition of 48 pieces (estimate CHF 250,000-500,000/approx. £218,000-436,000). Considering a Millennium watch at Bonhams New Bond Street in June 2021 for £519,000, the estimate seems conservative.
Undeniably a trailblazer for the independent watchmaking movement Daniels’ work is not only historically important – as referenced by the Co-axial escapement, now used by Omega it its high-grade mechanical watches – it is also incredibly beautiful.
Phillips head of watches for the Americas, Paul Boutros, said last year, “Interest is growing in all areas of independent watchmaking and Daniels is considered the leader of the pack, a man who has inspired so many others. His legacy is profound and on that basis, we’ve seen demand going through the roof.”
Alexandre Ghotbi, Phillips head of watches, Continental Europe and the Middle East concurs, saying that international attention turned to Daniels around 2019 when Phillips held an exhibition dedicated to independent watchmaking followed by the sale of the George Daniels Grand Complication pocket watch in May of that year.
“Daniels can be considered the first modern independent watchmaker… [he] paved the road for the first wave of independent watchmakers that came from the 1980s onwards,” says Ghotbi.
“His book Watchmaking was a source for many watchmakers and he was not only an inspiration to his contemporaries but also to the generation that ensued such as Journe, Rexhepi, Flageolet and of course Smith. Without Daniels, the current independent watchmaking scene would be quite different.”
Speaking of the upcoming sale, David Newman, Chairman of The George Daniels Educational Trust – and a close friend of Daniels for over 50 years – says: “To have three significant Daniels’ wristwatches come to auction at the same time will give the discerning collector an opportunity that may not be repeated. The interest in all things Daniels – watches, clocks, his horological books and vintage cars – is very strong and George would have been delighted with the worldwide results at auction.”
A Daniels connoisseur, Newman believes that the estimates for the three watches are conservative, but as Ghotbi points out, “It’s always difficult to give a ‘value’ for a unique piece for which there is nothing similar to compare to. Our estimate is ‘in excess of CHF 1m’, the market will decide what the watch is worth. That’s the beauty of auctions.”
However, going forward, Ghotbi believes that interest in Daniels work can only go one way. “Like Modigliani, Daniels œuvre is small,” he says. “Such rarity will always enhance the desirability of the pieces and each time one of his creations will come to the market it will be an event.”
Before the sale, the watches will be on view, with other highlight pieces, during Geneva Watch Days (29 August – 1 September) at Hotel Beau Rivage, Quai du Mont-Blanc 13, 1201 Geneva.
