Soon after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Stephen Brooks, CEO of auctioneer Phillips, issued a strong condemnation of the invasion and “called for an immediate cessation of all hostilities in the strongest possible terms”.
Phillips has taken a “business as usual” approach since the beginning of the war, and its Russian owners Leonid Fridlyand and Leonid Strunin have not commented.
And, if the super-rich have any discomfort doing business as usual with the auctioneer, they are clearly willing to hold their nose with one hand and raise their paddles with the other as the weekend’s Geneva Watch Auction: XV and an appetizer Royal Oak 50th Sale before the main event notched up several seven-figure bidding wars and a dozen world record prices for specific references.
The cost of living crisis is also failing to cool demand for rare and exceptional timepieces (it might even be fueling it) as Geneva Watch Auction: XV generated sales worth $39,374,510 over two days and the Royal Oak 50th Sale racked up an additional $22,616,032.
That is $62 million worth of watches over three days that demonstrate how hot the vintage and modern contemporary watch market has become.
“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.
Geneva Watch Auction: XV
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.
Royal Oak 50th Sale
The highest price ever paid at auction for an Audemars Piguet watch was for a diamond encrusted Royal Oak Concept “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon, which went for $5.2 million at a charity auction in 2021.
Phillips is claiming a world record for the highest price every paid for a vintage Audemars Piguet when a Royal Oak reference 5402ST A2 — said to be the second Royal Oak ever made and the one of only four shown to the press at Baselworld in 1972 — sold for $1,073,319.
Close on its heels with a second million dollar hammer price was a Royal Oak perpetual calendar in platinum, reference 25654PT with copper brown dial, and double-signed by Asprey, which went for $1,036,511.
There was some stardust attached to the third most expensive watch, a Royal Oak reference 5402ST owned by fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld, which sold for $950,625.
“With these results, the Royal Oak has clearly demonstrated its desirability on the market. This is a watch that created a new genre, and a new design language,” Mr Ghotbi suggests.
