The Only Watch charity auction bowed to the inevitable today by announcing the sale will be postponed from November 5 until next year.
No date has been given for the auction in 2024, and none of the 62 brands that have donated watches to the sale have commented on the postponement.
The Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies (AMM), a charity based in Monaco and operating under the pricipality’s Prince Albert, aims to reestablish trust in how $100 million, raised since the first Only Watch auction was held in 2005, is dispersed to researchers and institutions searching for treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which claimed the young life of the son of Luc Pettavino, founder of Only Watch, chairman of AMM and a shareholder of SQY Therapeutics, the biggest beneficiary of funds.
In a statement announcing the delay to this year’s Only Watch auction, AMM says the last two years have seen a major turning point in the journey towards therapy DMD.
French and European health authorities have granted approval for a “first in human” clinical trial financed entirely by funds raised through Only Watch.
AMM has so far distributed $50 million, around half, of the money raised since 2005 through Only Watch auctions.
The remaining $50 million is “rigorously managed”, the charity says.
It goes on to describe the positive impact of the project.
“This is the fruit of nearly 20 years’ work by a unified group bringing together watch brands, buyers/donors, researchers, clinicians, organizational and logistical partners, and the media. Thousands of hours of work by thousands of people have gone into creating the finest charity auction of unique timepieces in the world,” AMM says.
However, with attempts to answer questions about the management of $100 million failing to dampen speculation, AMM has bumped the upcoming Only Watch auction into next year.
“A few days before the auction, questions were raised about the allocation of funds and the governance of the AMM, an association of patients’ families. Answers were provided regarding the funding strategies chosen, the structures and projects supported, and the association’s accounts and budget. However, the time for certification, changes in governance and the imminent auction do not coincide. We cannot bring ourselves to cast doubt on the sincerity of the commitment of all the parties involved in this project, nor can we allow this wonderful story to be rewritten,” AMM insists.
“We want to continue to move forward in harmony with the community that has rallied around this unique and ambitious charitable and scientific project, and so we are today taking the decision to postpone the auction to 2024,” it concludes.
Mr Pettavino, founder of OW and Chairman of AMM, adds: “We will continue to move forward, providing even more information on the virtuous and extraordinary actions we have achieved thanks to this dynamic. The agility that characterizes us has enabled us to make exceptional progress. One of our greatest joys is knowing, as we write these lines, that a group of children and young adults have been included in a clinical trial made possible by the Only Watch funds. It’s tangible, concrete and gives hope of a cure. That’s what’s important.”
