Results for Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XIV

Is Dufour’s Appointment As Rolex CEO A Sign Of New Directions For The Best Watch Brand In The World?

The Evolution Of Watch Advertising Though The Years

An afternoon of fun at the MB&F; MAD Gallery, Geneva

toys machines mad gallery xia hang motorcycle harley davidson

A Journey Through Time: Luxury Watch Shopping at Starhill Gallery in Malaysia

Handwound Watch Owners… This Is For You!

Are you the owner of a perpetual calendar from Patek Philippe or the H. Moser & Cie Perpetual 1? If you are, you’ll know that such watches are designed to not require adjustment until the year 2100. The highly complex movement is able to distinguish the number of days within a month and whether it […]

New Piaget Exhibition In Geneva; Gold & Color

Gold & Color is the title of Piaget’s new exhibition in their Time Gallery. Two words that summarize a large portion of Piaget’s rich history. When Piaget wrote watchmaking history by introducing the 2mm thin manual wind caliber 9P in 1957, it was not about technical prowess, but much more about opening up a world […]

Watch Cases! – Perfect Storage for Watch Collectors.

Collecting watches is one thing, but storing them safely is something else. It actually does’nt matter if it’s a collection of three four watches or a dozen, we’re taking about, there comes a moment that they need a better place than the drawer of a nightstand, or in a cardboard box when travelling. Nowadays there […]

Patek Philippe Launches New Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 6002 In Geneva

Last night we were privileged to be present for the launch of the latest version of the legendary Sky Moon Tourbillon ref. 6002 from Patek Philippe. The most complicated wristwatch every produced by Patek, the Sky Moon Tourbillon features a perpetual calendar with retrograde date, a star map rotating once per sidereal day, and indication […]

Max Bill by Junghans; Watch Design Brought Back to its Essence

Junghans is a brand that most people know from their clocks and radio-controlled watches. In both categories the  brand has made quite a name for itself, often combining innovative design with the latest technical developments. But what Junghans decisively gave a place in watchmaking history is its collaboration with architect/designer Max Bill. As an apprentice […]

Shine On, You Crazy Diamond: Piaget Sets New Record With The Altiplano Gem-Set Skeleton Watch

Piaget’s justly famed for both its ultra-thin movements and for its extremely high level of gem-setting mastery (handled, unusually in an industry that out-sources a great deal of its sertissage to third party contractors, in-house) and this year, they showed a dazzling combination of both.  Feast your eyes, brief mortals, on the Piaget Altiplano Gem Set Skeleton […]

Gronefeld One Hertz, the brothers and another watch

The Gronefeld brothers in Holland are one of the secrets of high end horology. Independents, they were both trained in the stables of Renaud et Papi. And have been making their own watches, as well as contracting for others from their little workshop in The Netherlands. I had the opportunity to meet them several timesRead More

Watchscapes: Dufour Duality – the ultimate one watch to rule them all

The Philippe Dufour Duality...ultimate in discreteness, and totally unassuming in character, but what a gorgeous, and ultra-complicated movement within.

Public Service Announcement: Save The Vintage Gold Watches

If you haven’t been watching, gold prices have been on a tear over the past year. Currently, the metal is trading at an all-time high. For lovers of vintage watches made from the precious metal, it’s time to wake up and take action. When bidding at auction on an old gold watch, there’s a good […] Visit Public Service Announcement: Save The Vintage Gold Watches to read the full article.

Photo Report: The Watches And Action From The Monaco Legend Fall Auction

We're back with some of the best watches and moments from the outstanding auction/friendly vintage watch meetup that is a Monaco Legend Group event.

Unveiling Jacob & Co: The Epic SF24

The Jacob & Co. Epic SF24 is a watch that is so unapologetically original that it takes the classic world time complication and flips it on its head. Instead of using hands or rotating discs to indicate the 24 major timezones, it utilises a remarkable innovation called the Split-Flap system to display a selected timezone […]

Five of the best action-movie watches you can still buy at retail

Watches in film, whether or not snobbish enthusiasts are willing to admit it to themselves, are some of the biggest motivators for people to get into watch collecting. First you fall in love with one watch, say the Submariner after watching Sean Connery suavely save the day. But, like a bag of potato chips, you … ContinuedThe post Five of the best action-movie watches you can still buy at retail appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

The three watches Nick wore most in 2020: Grand Seiko, Seiko and Universal Geneve

In 2020, everything was different. The way we worked. The way we socialised. And even the way we wore watches. If you only ever got your dress watch out of the safe for a black tie event, it’s likely you didn’t touch it at all last year. I heard stories of people who used to … ContinuedThe post The three watches Nick wore most in 2020: Grand Seiko, Seiko and Universal Geneve appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Wine-tasting at the Vendanges de Genève

Each year at the end of the summer, Geneva’s prestigious Rue du Rhône is brought to life with the Vendanges de Genève-an exclusive wine-tasting event with some of the most luxurious brands. This year’s edition brought together hundreds of guests in over 60 boutiques, ranging from watch brands-such as De Bethune, Vacheron Constantin and Zenith-to […]

Hands On: Victor Kullberg Tourbillon Pocket Chronometer

Phillips’s upcoming sale The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII is packed with spectacular watches, including some already well known to collectors like the extra complicated La Royale by Louis Audemars, an unsual Patek Philippe worldtime ref. 2523, and the Golay Fils & Stahl astronomical watch. But among the finest is a simple watch that tracks only the time and state of wind, yet is comprised of several hundred parts: Victor Kullberg No 6583. Behind those three hands is a one-minute tourbillon equipped with an Earnshaw detent escapement, a massive free-sprung compensation balance, anti-magnetic helical balance spring and reverse chain and fusee, making it one of the most elaborate three-hand watches imaginable. Even at its high estimate of US$102,000, this pocket chronometer amounts to something of a steal, especially in an auction where multiple steel sports watches carry much greater estimates. The cult of the chronometer Swiss and English horologists disagreed on a great many things, from the ideal shape and material of escape wheels to the definition of a chronometer. To the Swiss, the title of chronometer was bestowed based on merit as a timekeeper. Any watch could be one if it kept good time, especially with a trusted, independent attestation of its accuracy. Watches submitted to observatory trials — or tested according to the ISO 3159:2009 standard today — are chronometers by this reckoning. England was dominated by the cult of the [marine] chronometer, unsurprisin...

In-Depth: Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 in Stainless Steel

Many superlatives have been ascribed to what might be the most valuable watch this fall auction season – the Patek Philippe ref. 1518 in stainless steel. Headlining Phillips’ upcoming auction in Geneva, the steel ref. 1518 is paradoxically extraordinary and ordinary all at once. As the first serially-produced perpetual calendar-chronograph wristwatch, the ref. 1518 is already a landmark Patek Philippe wristwatch, one that spawned a lineage that includes the refs. 2499, 3970, and 5970. And then there’s the ref. 1518 in steel – only four are known. The steel ref. 1518 has rarity, historical importance, and an eight-figure value; but on the wrist, this “holy grail” is compact, lightweight, and monochromatic, discreetly low-key. At a diminutive 35 mm in diameter, the ref. 1518 is small by today’s standards. The watch doesn’t look like much on the wrist from across a room; in fact, it isn’t immediately obvious to a layperson (or even a casual watch enthusiast) that the watch is worth more than most houses and vintage Ferraris. Yet the ref. 1518 in steel is appealing for many intellectual reasons: extreme rarity, historical lineage of the perpetual calendar chronograph, even sheer value. This is a trophy in many senses. Historically, the ref. 1518 was important even in its time. It was once Patek Philippe’s most complicated regular production wristwatch, and the steel ref. 1518 was likely the most expensive steel Patek Philippe when it was in the catalogue. ...

In-Depth: The Breguet Sympathique, From the Duc d’Orléans to “No. 1”

This spring, one of the most important horological creations of the late twentieth century returns to public view. As part of The Geneva Watch Auction: XXI taking place on May 10 and 11, Phillips will offer the Breguet Sympathique No. 1, the first of twenty exceptional clocks commissioned by Breguet in the early 1990s. The primary creator of this landmark clock was none other than Francois-Paul Journe, then a young watchmaker. Completed in 1991 for the Art of Breguet auction, No. 1 is not just the prototype of the modern Sympathique series, it is its most ambitious. The example, paired with a tourbillon wristwatch, is equipped with a constant-force remontoir and moonphase display. In retrospect, it reads as a mechanical manifesto, foreshadowing Journe’s later independent work. More than a highlight of its upcoming sale, No. 1 represents a rare continuation of one of watchmaking’s great inventions, a direct link to Abraham-Louis Breguet himself. Detail of Sympathique no. 1 Of Breguet’s many breakthroughs, from the tourbillon to the pare-chute, none captured the marriage of mechanical brilliance and poetic vision quite like the Pendule Sympathique. Designed to wind, set, and regulate a paired watch automatically, it embodied a new kind of horological harmony: a master timekeeper caring for its portable counterpart. The calendar on Sympathique no. 1 By the late 20th century, these clocks had become near-mythical. Only a handful were ever built, most housed in royal coll...

Hands On: Philippe Dufour Simplicity Prototype No. 000 in Pink Gold

With “indies” all the rage now, auction catalogues usually have a generous helping of independent watchmaking. Amongst the many offerings from the genre this season, a handful stand out, including the Philippe Dufour Simplicity prototype no. 000 in Phillips’ Geneva watch auction that takes place on November 3 and 4, 2023. This is one of three prototype watches Mr Dufour made for the 2000 Basel fair when the Simplicity made its debut. Two of them were in white gold with a silvered guilloche dial – Mr Dufour himself frequently wears one of them – and the last was this watch, which is pink gold with a white lacquered dial. Initial thoughts Today Philippe Dufour has grown beyond the personality and is essentially a brand, an evolution that arguably took place after the 20th anniversary Simplicity was launched 2020. In contrast, this Simplicity prototype, along with the first 200 examples Mr Dufour made, encapsulates the artisanal beginnings of the man and his brand. At the time of the Simplicity’s launch, and for more than a decade after, Mr Dufour found neither fame nor fortune, given that he only made a handful of Simplicity watches each year and sold each for about US$40,000. The early watches are perhaps purer creations that capture the essence of Mr Dufour’s vision, which was to pay tribute to the heyday of Vallee de Joux watchmaking. Mr Dufour, of course, managed to do it slightly better, explaining why his creations are often regarded as having the best m...

Philippe Dufour Grande Sonnerie Wristwatch Sells for US$5.2m

One of the most anticipated sales during Geneva’s watch auction week just concluded with a big number – the Philippe Dufour Grande Sonnerie wristwatch sold for CHF4.749 million, or about US$5.2 million, including fees. While bidding was steady, it was restrained. Three bidders were the key movers behind the result – a phone bidders represented by Yong Ho and Alex Ghotbi of Phillips in Hong Kong and Geneva respectively, as well as an online bidder in Singapore. At the end it was down to the Singaporean buyer and Mr Ghotbi’s phone bidder, who clinched the watch with a hammer of CHF3.9 million. I wrote just earlier this week that I expected the Grande Sonnerie to sell for between US$4.0-5.0 million, so the result was well within my expectation. While there was talk of a far higher number prior to the sale, a variety of factors led me to that range, including the number of known potential buyers as well as the values of comparable watches. And that was how it turned out.  

The Rise and Fall of Asprey of London (and a Personalised F.P. Journe Wristwatch)

An F.P. Journe Octa Calendrier caught my eye at Phillips’ upcoming Geneva auction, not because of the watch itself, but because of the name engraved on the movement: “John R. Asprey”. Now 82, John Rolls Asprey ran his family’s luxury emporium in its heyday, when it was a purveyor of watches, jewels, silverware, fine bookbinding and hunting accessories, with the Sultans of Brunei and Oman as its top clients. Unusually, Asprey was a prominent name in two diverse segments of watchmaking – what are now valuable vintage watches, think “Khanjar” Rolex watches, as well as modern-day independent watchmaking. How it came to be is the remarkable story of the rise and decline of a grand name in British luxury retail. A wondrous emporium Long before luxury brand names had coalesced into conglomerates like LVMH and Richemont, they were independent, family-owned enterprises that were small but globally known – at least by the right clientele. Amongst them were names that are still famous today, including Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co., but also one that is less well known now, Asprey of London. Founded in 1781 and having opened in 1847 at 167 New Bond Street – still its premises today, albeit leased – Asprey was once London’s leading luxury merchant. In some ways, it was the ultimate gift shop, where one could buy all manner of exotic and exquisite goods from all over the world, from books to watches to sceptres to crystal. Many of the elaborate objects ...

Rolex Unicorns Part III – Ref. 6062 Triple Calendar “Stelline Gordon Bethune”

The third important vintage Rolex – in my opinion – at Phillips’ upcoming Geneva auction, after the ref. 4113 split-seconds chronograph and mint ref. 8171 “Padellone”, is the ref. 6062 “Stelline” triple calendar that once belonged to Gordon Bethune, the executive best known for turning around Continental Airlines during his decade-long tenure starting in 1994. The watch a sterling example of the ref. 6062 – and will sell for well over a million dollars – but it is also notable for what it says about the development of the vintage watch market. Now 78 and retired, though he pops up regularly on CNBC to comment on the airline industry, Mr Bethune accumulated his watch collection over two decades. He sold the bulk of it in 2012, but remains probably the only famous business executive known to have collected watches in a serious fashion (another is perhaps former Hollywood talent agent Michael Ovitz, though he more widely regarded as an important collector of contemporary art). Mr Bethune’s collection was inclined towards great, even some of the best, examples of important, uncommon and desirable watches, rather than extraordinarily or unique models. So he owned one of the best-preserved, all-original examples of the ref. 6062s “Stelline”, rather than say a well-worn ref. 6062 with a black, diamond-marker dial. It was a cold day in December… The Gordon Bethune Collection of Fifty Exceptional Vintage Wristwatches took place in December 2012 at Christi...