Top 10 prices paid at the Phillips Geneva Watch Auction: XV

World records tumbled for most of the watches in this weekend’s Geneva Watch Auction: XV, the biggest sale of the year for Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo.

One hundred per cent of the 196 watches on the block were sold, generating total revenue of $39,374,510 over two days.

“Once again, collectors’ appetite for rare and collectible timepieces of the highest quality, utmost rarity or of historical relevance and original designs has been demonstrated. All of these elements resulted in yet another record-breaking sale at Phillips,” says Alexandre Ghotbi, head of watches, Continental Europe and Middle East.

Patek Philippe watches took five spots on the top ten list of most expensive lots, Rolex took three and F. P. Journe the remaining two.

The star lot of Geneva Watch Auction: XV was the early Patek Philippe perpetual calendar ref. 1518 in pink gold with pink dial, selling to a phone bidder for $3,333,926.

Second highest price paid was for a unique Rolex ref. 6239, nicknamed “The Crazy Doc”, once owned by rock star Eric Clapton, which achieved $1,743,308. This watch is the only known yellow gold reference 6239 with pulsations dial.

Celebrity provenance did not weigh heavily on the top of the rankings, but a 1941 Patek Philippe watch owned by holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal caused a bidding war up to $1,376,243.

Independent watchmakers including Kari Voutilainen, Christian Klings, Urwerk, MB&F, and De Bethune continued to attract feverish support.

A unique F. P. Journe Octa Zodiaque power reserve in pink gold, which was made for the Children Action Foundation in 2005, went for $813,409. The consignor of the watch donated it once again to the same charitable institution, who will benefit from the sale. Phillips will donate all the buyer’s premium from the sale of this watch to the same charity.

Top 10 hammer prices at Geneva Watch Auction: XV