Sotheby’s will bring one of Cartier’s rarest watch designs to public auction for the first time when a unique white gold Cheich crosses the block in Hong Kong on September 18. Created as a special commission in 2010, the Cheich is the top lot of the house’s Important Watches sale, with an estimate of HK$8-40 million, or approximately $1 million to $5.1 million. Only four examples of the original Cheich were made in the 1980s; this later commission added a fifth, the only example executed entirely in white gold.

The broader sale catalogue includes a platinum F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance, a possibly unique Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5980 “Red Eight” and a selection of rare vintage Rolex sports watches, among many other highlights. The rarity of the Cheich puts Cartier at the center of a sale that also features several rare Crash watches, a Tank à Guichets and two Bamboo Coussins.

Why the Cheich is so rare

In 1983, Cartier introduced the Cartier Challenge, promising a specially designed wristwatch to a competitor who could win consecutive editions of the Dakar Rally. That watch was the Cheich, conceived as a competition trophy rather than for retail sale, with only four examples originally made. Its signature case took inspiration from the headscarves of the same name worn by the Tuareg people of the Sahara, translating the folds of a cheich into overlapping layers of yellow, pink and white gold.

Belgian motorcyclist Gaston Rahier claimed the prize after winning the rally in 1984 and 1985, and would remain its only recipient. Rally founder Thierry Sabine died in a helicopter crash during the 1986 event, and the Cartier Challenge ended soon afterward. According to Sotheby’s, two of the four watches made during that period remain in the Cartier Collection, while Sabine’s is unaccounted for. Rahier’s was sold by his family through the auction house in 2022 for more than €1 million.

A special commission in white gold

The watch heading to Hong Kong exists because Cartier revisited the design in 2010 for Giorgio Seragnoli, a prominent collector and co-author of Cartier Bianco, a book documenting white-metal Cartier watches. The commission retained the Cheich’s distinctive form but replaced the original combination of mixed golds with white gold alone.

At 38mm long by 27mm wide, the case is relatively compact. Its irregular outline and raised folds account for much of its presence, framing a familiar Cartier white dial with blued sword-shaped hands. The single metal makes those layers less immediately distinct than on the original three-gold version, while preserving the impression of fabric wrapped around the time display.

Like many Cartier timepieces, the Cheich runs on a quartz movement. A brown leather strap and white gold folding clasp complete the watch, which comes with a Cartier certificate and presentation box. The caseback bears the engraving “No. 1,” and Sotheby’s catalogues the example as unique.

Cartier collectors may recognize this Cheich from its appearance with Milan dealer The Watch Boutique in 2023, when it received significant coverage in the watch press as a fifth example of a design long thought to number just four. The question now is whether this unique white gold commission can command a higher price than the watch that fulfilled the original Cartier Challenge.

Beyond the Cheich

The Cheich leads a Cartier offering that runs deep, including six separate Crash examples and a run of rare 1970s Cartier London pieces. Among the Crashes, a possibly unique sapphire-set white gold example carries an estimate of HK$4.5-10 million. Another white gold version pairs a burgundy dial with a diamond-set case, alongside further examples in yellow and pink gold.

Beyond the Crash, the Cartier selection extends to a Tank à Guichets from the Collection Privée Cartier Paris, estimated at HK$400,000-700,000, and a pair of Bamboo Coussins. The larger Bamboo carries an estimate of HK$400,000-800,000, while the smaller is estimated at HK$300,000-600,000. The sale also includes two early-1970s Cartier London watches, a Maxi Pebble estimated at HK$1.6-2.2 million and a Midi Pebble estimated at HK$950,000 – 1.5 million, both pairing rounded yellow gold cases with distinctive geometric dials.

Among the rare Cartiers in the sale, the Cheich remains the hardest to put a price on. The broad distance between its high and low estimates leaves plenty of room for bidders to decide what a fifth example is worth, while the depth of the Cartier offering means it may not be the day’s only eye-catching result.

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This year’s introductions cover far more ground than any six timepieces can capture, but those gathered here offer a sense of the range, from avant-garde mechanical displays and unconventional dress watches to more familiar sporting designs. They include Bulgari’s first collaboration with independent watchmaker Vianney Halter, a Daniel Roth shaped by a historical gilt-dial technique, a tourbillon version of Girard-Perregaux’s 50-year-old Laureato, a yellow-gold Urwerk, a hand-hammered Gerald Charles and Zenith’s simplified take on its high-frequency El Primero movement.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Dual Time x Vianney Halter

• Sandblasted titanium: $80,000; rose gold: $123,000

Bulgari has spent more than a decade pushing the limits of mechanical watchmaking through the Octo Finissimo, which has earned 10 world records for ultra-thin construction. Although the collection has previously served as a canvas for architects and artists, the Dual Time marks Bulgari’s first collaboration with an independent watchmaker, partnering with Vianney Halter—one of the most distinctive figures in contemporary watchmaking.

The finished watch is equal parts Octo Finissimo and Vianney Halter while looking unlike anything previously produced by either. Bulgari’s sharply faceted case surrounds four circular displays inspired by the riveted, retro-futuristic design of Halter’s Antiqua perpetual calendar. Those displays show local time, a second time zone, the date, seconds and a day-night indication. The watch is limited to 30 pieces in sandblasted titanium, priced at $80,000, and 15 in rose gold, priced at $123,000.

The Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Gilt

• $76,500

Daniel Roth helped define modern independent watchmaking in the late 20th Century, pairing traditional decorative techniques with his distinctive double-ellipse cases. Now being revived under Louis Vuitton’s La Fabrique du Temps workshop, the brand has returned to that vocabulary rather than attempting to reinvent it. The new Extra Plat places the emphasis on a black gilt dial whose rose-gold markings reveal the solid-gold plate beneath, rather than being printed over the finished surface.

Pinstripe guilloché engraved by hand on a traditional rose engine brings texture to the otherwise spartan design, giving the black dial a subtle three-dimensional effect. The 18-karat rose-gold case houses the manually wound DR002 movement.

The Girard-Perregaux Laureato Fifty Tourbillon

• Pink-gold dial: $95,600; blue Grand Feu enamel dial: $100,000

Girard-Perregaux introduced the Laureato in 1975, as the modern luxury sports watch was taking shape through designs including the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus and IWC Ingenieur. The new model brings one of the brand’s most historically important complications to the latest Laureato Fifty design. It’s not the first Laureato tourbillon, but its 39 mm steel case and integrated bracelet make it an unusually restrained interpretation, placing old-school high watchmaking within one of the defining sports-watch silhouettes of the 1970s.

The tourbillon appears beneath Girard-Perregaux’s signature bridge at 6 o’clock, providing a dramatic break from the orderly Clous de Paris dial. The watch is available with a solid pink-gold dial or a blue Grand Feu enamel dial.

The Urwerk UR-150 Golden Scorpion

• $140,000

Since its founding in 1997, Urwerk has built its identity around avant-garde watches that look more like futuristic instruments than traditional timepieces. The UR-150 Golden Scorpion brings yellow gold to the design first introduced in 2024, with the hours rotating across a central carousel as a large retrograde hand tracks the minutes along a 240-degree arc. At the end of each hour, the hand snaps back to its starting point while the next hour moves into position, completing the reset in one-hundredth of a second. The yellow-gold case combines sandblasted, microblasted and satin finishes that emphasize its dramatic curves and ridges.

The Gerald Charles Masterlink Atelier Edition

• Pricing is available upon request

Unconventional case shapes have defined Gerald Charles since Gérald Genta founded the brand in 2000. The Masterlink, introduced in 2024, translates that legacy into an integrated-bracelet sports watch, pairing an asymmetrical case with a distinctive curved lower edge inspired by the one-of-a-kind Sarawak that Genta designed in 2007. The collection has since expanded through gem-set models, a boutique edition and a newly developed perpetual calendar.

The Atelier Edition returns to the simpler two-hand design, placing the emphasis on a dial hammered entirely by hand.
An artisan strikes each plate of Maillechort, or nickel silver, hundreds of times to create a surface unique to every watch. Removing the usual hour markers leaves that texture uninterrupted, while the bracelet’s lower central links follow the curve of the asymmetrical case. Gerald Charles will produce 25 pieces in each of three dial treatments—Golden Rose, Rhodium and Golden Yellow.

The Zenith Chronomaster Solo Sport

• No-date model: $9,800; date versions: $10,900

Zenith introduced the El Primero in 1969 as one of the world’s first automatic chronograph movements and the first to operate at a high frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour. It has remained central to the brand ever since, most notably through the modern Chronomaster collection. The new Solo Sport strips that formula back for the first time, removing the stopwatch function to create a simpler three-hand Chronomaster at a lower price. Its ceramic dial carries a repeated 45-degree “Z” pattern inspired by the frequency and vibration of the movement. Four steel versions are available with ceramic bezels and either date or no-date displays.

For decades, luxury brands have used the intense pressure of the hard court to prove that haute horlogerie can be as resilient as it is refined. Seen on the wrists of both contemporary champions and stars of decades past, these are some of the watches most closely associated with tennis’s biggest names.

Carlos Alcaraz’s Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

Carlos Alcaraz has built one of the most recognizable Rolex collections in professional tennis, with several Cosmograph Daytonas appearing on his wrist after major victories. One of the most striking is the yellow-gold ref. 126518LN, which pairs a turquoise lacquer dial with a black ceramic bezel and Oysterflex bracelet.

Alcaraz wore the watch after winning the 2025 French Open and again after capturing his second U.S. Open title later that year. As one of Rolex’s leading tennis ambassadors, he has been seen in a number of Daytona variations, but the turquoise model has become one of the most recognizable.

Coco Gauff’s Rolex Oyster Perpetual “Red Grape”

The second Rolex on this list is a very different kind of watch. Since becoming an ambassador for the brand in 2019, Coco Gauff has repeatedly returned to the discontinued Oyster Perpetual “Red Grape,” a relatively understated stainless-steel model with a purple dial.

After winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2023 U.S. Open, the American champion lifted the trophy wearing the watch. She did it again after winning the French Open in 2025, where Gauff returned to the same Rolex for the trophy ceremony. Compared with the precious-metal Daytonas often seen on professional athletes, the Oyster Perpetual is much simpler, and Gauff’s repeated choice of the same watch has made the timepiece easy to associate with her.

Novak Djokovic’s Hublot Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic

Novak Djokovic’s partnership with Hublot began in 2021, and two years later the watchmaker was on his wrist for one of the defining moments of his career. After winning the 2023 U.S. Open, Djokovic lifted his 24th Grand Slam singles trophy wearing the Hublot Big Bang Unico Yellow Magic. The bright yellow ceramic chronograph was hard to miss against his blue tournament kit, making it an especially memorable trophy watch for a historic win.

Naomi Osaka’s TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300 Limited Edition

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka has long brought a strong sense of personal style to the court, with fashion becoming an essential part of her public image, with her watch partnerships being a part of that story for years. Before joining TAG Heuer, Osaka was a Citizen ambassador, and she wore the brand’s Eco-Drive Bluetooth BZ4006-01E throughout the 2018 U.S. Open final, where she defeated Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam singles title.

Osaka became a TAG Heuer ambassador in 2021 and soon worked with the brand on something more personal: her own version of the Aquaracer Professional 300. Released in 2022 as a limited edition of 250 watches, the 36 mm stainless-steel model uses shades of green inspired by both tennis and Osaka’s love of nature. The resulting ref. WBP231E.EB0247 feels distinctly Osaka, with its green palette tying together tennis, nature and a broader interest in fashion.

Daniil Medvedev’s Bovet OttantaSei Tourbillon

Daniil Medvedev may not have the same all-time stature as some of the names on this list, but his partnership with Bovet is unusual enough to make him worth including. The Russian player became a brand ambassador in 2019 and has since been seen wearing several of the independent Swiss manufacturer’s watches.

When Medvedev defeated Novak Djokovic to win the 2021 U.S. Open, he appeared at the trophy ceremony wearing a Bovet OttantaSei Tourbillon, a distinctive model created with the Italian design house Pininfarina. Medvedev does not wear his Bovets during matches, but the brand has become a regular part of his off-court appearances and trophy ceremonies.

Andre Agassi’s Ebel Sport Classic

Andre Agassi was already one of tennis’s most recognizable personalities by the time he arrived at the 1988 U.S. Open. At 18, with long hair, acid-washed denim shorts and a famously colorful on-court style, he was impossible to miss. On his wrist was an Ebel Sport Classic, part of a relationship with a brand that was then a major presence in tennis.

Contemporary photos show Agassi playing in the watch, which makes the pairing more interesting than a standard post-match endorsement. The Sport Classic looked right at home with Agassi’s bold late-1980s style.

Steffi Graf’s Baume & Mercier Avant-Garde

Steffi Graf was photographed at the 1996 U.S. Open wearing a two-tone Baume & Mercier Avant-Garde in tungsten and gold. The watch is a much less familiar sight today than the Rolexes, Richard Milles and Audemars Piguets that dominate modern tennis, offering a very different picture of what a tennis watch looked like in the 1990s.

Graf was already one of the defining players of her generation by then. Today, the small two-tone watch looks almost startling beside the oversized sports watches more commonly seen on professional players.

Serena Williams’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore

Serena Williams has been associated with Audemars Piguet since 2014, and over the years she has worn several of the brand’s watches both on and off the court. The Royal Oak Offshore is the model most closely tied to that relationship, though she has also appeared in pieces from the Millenary collection, including a rose-gold Millenary during the 2017 Australian Open.

Williams is also part of the relatively small group of elite tennis players who have actually competed while wearing a mechanical watch. During the 2021 Australian Open, for example, she played in a black-dial Royal Oak Offshore Diver on a rubber strap. More recently, during her return to Wimbledon in 2026, she wore another Royal Oak Offshore, this time with a pink dial and strap and a diamond-set bezel.

Roger Federer’s Rolex Datejust II

Arguably no tennis player is more closely associated with Rolex—or has been for so long—as Roger Federer. He turned professional in 1998 and joined Rolex as an ambassador in 2001, just a few years into a career that would continue until his retirement in 2022. The partnership has continued since.

Federer has worn a wide range of Rolex watches over the years, including Daytonas, GMT-Master IIs, Sky-Dwellers and Day-Dates. One of the more meaningful is the Datejust II ref. 116334, which he wore after defeating Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009 to win his 15th Grand Slam title and surpass Pete Sampras’s then-record of 14. In 2026, Federer returned to Wimbledon as a spectator wearing the same watch, giving the watch a direct link to one of the defining victories of his career nearly two decades later.

Rafael Nadal’s Richard Mille RM 27

Rafael Nadal’s partnership with Richard Mille is one of the best-known watch relationships in tennis. It began in 2010 and eventually produced a series of RM 27 tourbillons developed specifically for him. Unlike most players, Nadal—like Williams—actually wore the watches during matches rather than only off court or on the podium. Richard Mille kept refining the series around that use, focusing on extremely low weight and the ability to withstand the repeated shocks of his game. Successive RM 27 models became lighter, more shock resistant and more technically ambitious, culminating in the final edition of the series, the RM 27-05.

Most graduation gifts get used up, replaced or forgotten, but a watch is different. For generations, receiving a serious timepiece has marked the move out of school and into whatever follows, whether it’s a first job, a new city or simply adult life. Part of the appeal is straightforward: graduation is a natural occasion for a substantial gift and, for watchmakers at the accessible end of luxury, it’s a chance to become someone’s introduction to a “real,” mechanical watch.

Many watchmakers recognize that moment and treat graduation as a distinct buying occasion, with some building entire collections around it. Few have embraced the idea as deliberately as Nomos Glashütte. Founded in 1990 in the German watchmaking town of Glashütte, Nomos is known for its clean, Bauhaus-influenced design and in-house mechanical movements. Its youthful Club Campus collection is aimed squarely at graduates marking a new chapter in their lives, positioned as an accessible entry into the brand and mechanical watchmaking more broadly.

“Graduation marks an important step into adult life for many, which is one reason we chose it,” Ines Hatzmannsberger, head of sales and communications for North America at Nomos, told Observer. “At the same time, it stands for something broader: self-determination, setting your own course, and achieving what you set out to do.” That idea extends the watch’s significance—a milestone timepiece, after all, doesn’t always arrive with a diploma. Nomos points to a first career success or even a first apartment as other occasions worth marking; what ties them together is the transition.

Nomos introduced Club Campus in 2017 specifically around graduation and other early milestones. The collection pairs youthful colors and sporty cases with hand-wound movements, with current U.S. models generally running from about $1,830 to $2,070. “Club Campus is a smart entry point into the world of Nomos Glashütte,” Hatzmannsberger said. “The price is also attractive for those who are just starting their journey with mechanical wristwatches.”

Nomos may be unusually direct about the graduation connection, but it’s far from alone. TAG Heuer has long positioned the Formula 1 as a coming-of-age watch, and its current graduation gift guide includes multiple models from the collection. The Formula 1 collection spans solar-powered 38mm pieces around $1,950 to $2,050, quartz chronographs from roughly $2,100 to $2,900, and automatic chronographs climbing past $4,500. Longines also markets directly to graduation shoppers, with a dedicated U.S. selection spanning the Conquest, Spirit, Master Collection and others. Current options range from around $1,000 into the mid-$3,000s, including a steel automatic Conquest at $2,400.

Other brands make the education link literal. Breitling’s Endurance Pro University Editions carry the colors and insignia of Stanford, Princeton, Alabama, Michigan and the U.S. Naval Academy. The university models currently listed by Breitling are each priced at $3,900. Meanwhile, IWC takes the idea in a slightly different, more exclusive direction. In 2018, the manufacturer created special Pilot’s Watches available only to graduates of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, better known as TOPGUN, including versions carrying the school insignia and personalized details. Here, the achievement itself is what qualifies someone to own the watch.

A consistent commercial logic runs through each of these examples. The watches are expensive or recognizable enough to feel like a first serious timepiece, but they don’t reach the upper end of each brand’s catalog. For watchmakers, that means meeting customers early—ideally at the beginning of a relationship not only with mechanical watches but also with the brand.

That signaling is only part of the appeal. Unlike most things bought to mark the start of professional life, a watch can stay with its owner for decades, picking up meaning as the occasion itself grows more distant. That permanence also makes personalization especially fitting, and engraved watches account for a high share of Nomos’s online sales. (Club Campus notably leaves much of its caseback available for an inscription.) “Mechanical watches are often purchased in advance of a special occasion and are intended in part to commemorate the event—whether that is a graduation, a promotion or a wedding,” Hatzmannsberger said. “Watches are wonderful reminders of a certain moment in life, which is why having it engraved is often important for our customers.”

Most graduation watches probably aren’t engraved, but the sentiment helps explain why the tradition has held up so well. Years later, the watch isn’t really a graduation gift anymore; it’s simply the watch someone has owned since graduation, with the memory of that moment still attached to it. Somewhere between a symbol of affection, a trophy and a status object, it can also become more meaningful with time.

“Watches remain a form of connection between generations,” Hatzmannsberger said. “In our fast-paced modern world, many appreciate items that have been made to last a lifetime and can even be passed on to the next generation.”

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Once upon a time, a retired New York City civil servant inherited a Rolex from an uncle he cared for during the final years of his life. Uncertain what it was worth, he guessed around $10,000 and hid it in a flowerpot in his Queens apartment for safekeeping. When he eventually brought it to Sotheby’s, the watch turned out to be a rare vintage Daytona known to collectors as a “John Player Special.” It sold for $768,000.

The sale, according to Geoff Hess, Sotheby’s global head of watches, dramatically changed the man’s financial circumstances. “That’s an extreme example,” he told Observer, but families routinely inherit watches without understanding what they are, what they might be worth or which details matter. An unassuming watch can prove significant; an imposing one can turn out to be less valuable than it appears.

The days immediately following inheriting a watch collection are therefore the wrong time to start cleaning, repairing or sorting the collection for sale. The safest approach is simpler: gather everything, alter nothing and have the full collection assessed by a watch specialist. Also important is to put the timepieces, and everything associated with them, into a secure place. “Keep everything,” said Isabella Proia, head of sale and senior international specialist for watches at Phillips. “It’s important to err on the side of holding onto too much.” That includes boxes, warranty papers, receipts, service documents, spare bracelet links, straps, booklets, presentation materials and even handwritten notes. Together, Proia said, they can help establish provenance and history.

The importance of each of these extras varies by era. Modern watches are more likely to retain their original packaging, making completeness more important to collectors; vintage pieces may have been separated from those materials decades ago. “For the most part, what they do is enhance the story of a watch,” Hess said. “We love to know the history of a watch, where it came from, the life it lived.” Supporting materials may add a premium to a timepiece’s estimate, and ideally nothing should be discarded before a specialist reviews it.

But the worst mistake an heir can make is trying to improve a watch before it’s been properly evaluated. “Do not touch anything,” Hess said. “Don’t clean them. Don’t take them to your local jeweler to be polished and made shiny.” Polishing permanently removes metal and can alter the original shape of a case, while replacing a dial, bezel, hands or other components may make a watch look newer at the cost of reducing its value. What appears to be a flaw, scratches, tarnish or uneven patina, may instead show that the watch has survived in an honest, largely original state.

“People naturally want to make a watch look and operate at its best,” Proia said. “But in the vintage market, originality is often more important, and more valuable, than cosmetic perfection.” An old watch intended for regular wear may eventually need servicing, but it’s best to have it done only after a specialist has established what could be lost by doing so.

Heirs to watch collections don’t need to become experts before seeking an appraisal, but they should make a clear record of what they have. “The easiest approach is to create a simple photo catalog,” Proia said. She recommends photographing the front, back, sides, bracelet or strap and any visible markings, then organizing the information in a basic spreadsheet.

Hess’s minimum is even simpler: photographs of the front and back, he said, are usually enough for an initial identification, emphasizing that there’s no need to open the watch or expose the movement. Record any readily visible reference or serial number, but do not open the case to find one. Notes about who wore the watch or when it was acquired may also prove useful.

“Good photographs and basic organization are usually enough for a specialist to begin an assessment,” according to Proia. Notably, every watch in the inherited collection should be documented, not only those that look expensive. Hess regularly assesses modest collections because an apparently ordinary piece may be worth many times more than the rest. “You never know what you might find,” he said.

With collectible watches, small distinctions can have an outsized effect on value, and they aren’t always obvious to jewelers or general appraisers. “A rare dial configuration, an unusual case material, a retailer signature, historical provenance, an early production run or even a seemingly minor variation can dramatically affect desirability and value,” Proia said. “Sometimes two watches that look almost identical to a non-specialist can have very different market trajectories.”

According to Hess, the central considerations are brand, rarity, condition, originality and provenance, though their importance and the estimated value assigned to them shift from watch to watch. “There is no formula for that,” he explained. “It really is on a case-by-case basis.” Condition, in particular, can be deceiving. A worn watch with its original parts may be more desirable than one that looks pristine after heavy polishing or replacement components. Its market history can matter, too. Auction specialists describe a watch that has not previously appeared publicly or circulated through auctions and dealers as fresh to market. These discoveries can be especially attractive when they have remained in one family for decades. “Collectors love stories, so a part of the specialist’s job is to learn the story of the watch,” he added.

Photographs are often enough for an initial opinion, but gauging originality, condition and provenance may require an in-person inspection. And when it comes to assigning a value to a watch or collection, the answer largely depends on what kind of value is meant, whether an auction estimate, fair-market value, insurance evaluation or the amount an owner might reasonably expect from a sale. “These are often confused, but they’re very different concepts,” Proia said. An auction estimate is the expected bidding range published before a sale. “Conservative estimates attract bidders, leading to higher hammer prices,” he said.

Fair-market value refers more broadly to what a knowledgeable buyer would pay a knowledgeable seller in an open-market transaction. It is usually the closest figure to what owners mean when they ask what a watch is worth. Insurance value reflects replacement cost and may be higher than fair-market value when a rare watch would be difficult to replace. It may also need updating if a watch purchased years earlier has appreciated substantially. The amount a consignor ultimately receives is different again. It depends on the sale price, market conditions and an auction house’s commissions or fees.

Inherited collections should also be evaluated as a whole before any decisions are made about individual pieces. “Looking at the collection as a whole provides context,” Proia said. “It can reveal collecting themes, ownership history and relationships between pieces that might otherwise be missed.” A complete review also reduces the risk of overlooking something important because a relatively plain piece may turn out to have the rarest configuration, strongest provenance or greatest collector interest. Hess recommends bringing in the entire collection rather than trying to decide in advance which pieces merit attention.

Proia also distinguishes financial value from sentimental value. “The most emotionally meaningful piece isn’t necessarily the most valuable one,” she said. Knowing the difference between the two can make it easier to decide what stays in the family and what might be sold. Ideally, only after the collection has been thoroughly evaluated should decisions be made about what to keep and insure or sell. Notably, not every inherited watch should go to auction. Depending on estimated value, rarity and a family’s priorities, a piece might be sold privately or brought to a broader market.

And some discoveries will disappoint. “We do see our share of counterfeits,” Hess said. “Sometimes the grandfather didn’t even know he had a fake.” Other watches may be authentic but belong to brands or categories with limited secondary-market demand. Yet inherited collections are one of the places where significant watches tend to surface. “They’re still out there,” Hess said. “There are treasures to be found and diamonds in the rough everywhere.”

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Phillips has announced the first major lot for its Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV: a pre-production F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance bearing the serial number 022/99R. The watch will be offered by Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo on November 7 and 8 at the Hotel President in Geneva. Fresh to the market from its original owner after 27 years, it carries an estimate of CHF 500,000-1,000,000.

The November sales in Geneva are among the most important dates on the annual watch-auction calendar, bringing together major consignments at Phillips, as well as Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Phillips’ semiannual Geneva auction is typically a centerpiece of the season, and announcing an early Résonance as its first major lot puts F.P. Journe, now firmly established among the auction market’s leading names, at the center of this fall’s sales from the outset.

Why the Chronomètre à Résonance matters

Officially introduced in 2000, the Chronomètre à Résonance was the first wristwatch designed to use resonance as part of its timekeeping. In simple terms, Journe built the watch with two separate timekeeping systems positioned close together inside the same movement. The tiny vibrations produced by each can cause the two balance wheels to settle into the same rhythm, theoretically helping the watch maintain more consistent time. Both systems are displayed separately on the dial and can be adjusted independently.

Journe’s achievement was adapting a principle previously explored in clocks and pocket watches for use in a wristwatch. More than 25 years later, the Résonance remains one of his defining creations and one of the watches most closely associated with the rise of modern independent watchmaking.

The earliest commercially numbered Résonance

The /99R suffix indicates that the case was ordered in 1999, a year before the Résonance entered official production, while 022 identifies it as the earliest commercially numbered example. Journe famously used a souscription, or subscription, model to finance his then-fledgling manufacture, with early collectors placing deposits on his first tourbillon before the watches existed.

Those supporters were later offered the first 20 Résonance watches, numbered 001 through 020 and now known as the Résonance Souscription series. Journe retained 021 as a presentation piece for clients and retailers, making 022 the first number available to a buyer outside that original group.

Phillips describes 022/99R as a pre-production watch because it predates the Résonance’s official 2000 launch. It was nonetheless a completed watch sold to a client and, notably, the first commercially numbered example offered outside Journe’s original circle of supporters. According to Phillips, the original owner chose the number because it matched his birth date, acquired the watch in person in 1999 and has held it ever since. That places the watch within an estimated group of just 10 pre-production examples, predating the better-known Souscription and Pre-Souscription watches that have surfaced at auction in recent years. It also has the features collectors look for in early Journe watches, including a 38mm platinum case, a shiny pink-gold dial with silver-toned subdials and a brass movement.

F.P. Journe’s rise at auction

Over the past decade, early F.P. Journe watches have moved from a relatively narrow collecting category to the top end of the market. Attention has centered especially on brass-movement watches, subscription pieces, unusual dials and examples connected to Journe’s first clients.

Phillips has arguably played a major role in that rise. In the 2026 spring season alone, the house sold three important Résonance watches for a combined total of more than $23 million: Souscription No. 007 for $13.9 million (which set a new auction record), Souscription No. 18 for $6.3 million and a rare Pisa limited edition for $3 million.

The 022/99R occupies a different place in the model’s history. Its estimate is notably restrained next to the 2026 spring results, though estimates are not predictions, and bidders will ultimately determine how a rarely seen pre-production example ranks against the better-known Souscription series.

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The public version of Rolex is a luxury object: the Submariners, GMT-Masters and Daytonas that signal you’ve done well for yourself. The vintage market runs on different logic. At the very top, value comes less from general recognition than from the specific reasons one example matters more than another. A famous owner, a tiny production run, an unusual dial or a case that survived untouched can push a watch beyond expensive and into the category of something collectors may never see again.

Rolex doesn’t publish production numbers for its references, so the figures below come from auction records and collector scholarship, not the company itself. These six watches explain how the highest end of the vintage Rolex market works—and what a collector chasing the same feeling can still buy.

Rolex Daytona Reference 6239 “Paul Newman”

• Sold at Phillips, New York, October 2017. Result: $17,752,500

No watch on this list better shows how provenance can overtake the object itself. The Rolex Daytona is now one of the most recognizable watches in the world, but it was hardly an obvious future icon when it launched. Early examples sold slowly, and the unusual dial style collectors now call “Paul Newman” was, at the time, an odd and not especially popular variant.

That changed because of Newman himself. His personal Daytona was a gift from his second wife, Joanne Woodward, and was engraved “DRIVE CAREFULLY ME” on the caseback. He wore it for years before it disappeared from public view, helping turn the exotic-dial Daytona from a slow-selling chronograph into one of the defining collector watches of the modern market. When it resurfaced in 2017, it was not just another Paul Newman Daytona. It was the Paul Newman Daytona.

Phillips sold the watch in New York after a 12-minute bidding war that opened with a $10 million phone bid. The final price, $17,752,500, set a world record for any wristwatch and remains the highest price ever paid for a Rolex. That example is, of course, unavailable unless its current owner decides to sell. The broader category is less impossible to enter. Manual-wind steel Daytonas without exotic dials remain obtainable in the low six figures, while genuine Paul Newman-dial examples can climb far higher depending on reference, metal and condition. But none carries the same origin-story weight as the watch that gave the entire category its name.

Rolex Reference 4113 Split-Seconds Chronograph

• Sold at Monaco Legend Group, April 2024. Result: €3,170,000

The Rolex Reference 4113 is rare for a more straightforward reason: almost none were made. Rolex built its reputation on durable, dependable watches rather than high complications, which is exactly why this reference sits so far outside the brand’s usual story. Made in 1942, the 44mm steel chronograph is the only split-seconds, or rattrapante, chronograph Rolex is known to have produced, with a second stopwatch hand that can be stopped independently to time laps or split intervals.

As few as 12 examples are believed to have been produced, making this one of the “holy grails” of Rolex collecting. The full history of the model is still murky, but the presence of both a telemetric scale and a tachymeter on the dial suggests the watches found their way into the Italian automotive world rather than staying with the aviation pilots they may have originally been intended for. Fewer than 10 examples are known to the public today, and the small group is tracked closely enough that collectors know the individual watches almost by name.

The example sold by Monaco Legend Group in 2024 came from the collection of the watch scholar Auro Montanari. It also arrived with the cheese knife he had used for years to open the caseback, a small and very specific detail that says something about how personal, and occasionally eccentric, the top of this market can become.

Buying one is almost never realistic. A Ref. 4113 only resurfaces when one of the known examples leaves a major collection, and each appearance to market is nothing short of an event. There is no real direct modern equivalent, either; Rolex has not made another split-seconds chronograph, and even its closest contemporary dress-watch relative, the 1908 collection, has nothing close to this complication, though that’s not to say that may change in the future. Ultimately, the Ref. 4113 isn’t really a watch a collector works toward, it’s one they wait for.

Rolex Reference 6062 with black dial and diamond markers

• Sold at Monaco Legend Group, Monte Carlo, October 2025. Result: €5,150,000

With the Rolex Reference 6062, its scarcity comes from a side of Rolex many people forget existed. The brand is now defined largely by sports watches and professional models, but the Ref. 6062 belongs to a brief period in the early 1950s when Rolex was still making complicated wristwatches. It paired a triple calendar and moon-phase display with a waterproof Oyster case—an unusual combination even before the dial is considered.

Within that already rare reference, black-dial examples with diamond hour markers are the ones collectors chase hardest. Only a handful are known, and the most famous comparison is the so-called “Bao Dai,” a black-dial, diamond-marker Ref. 6062 made for the last emperor of Vietnam, which Phillips sold in 2017 for more than CHF 5,000,000.

The Monaco Legend Group example here pushed the reference higher still, and its multiple sales offered a useful measure of how far the market has moved: the same watch sold at an Antiquorum auction in 2006 for roughly $380,000 before returning in 2025 at more than $5 million.

Owning one is extremely unlikely. Other Ref. 6062s exist, but a black-dial, diamond-marker example is a trophy-market event whenever one appears. If the appeal is the moonphase rather than the exact reference, Rolex’s Cellini Moonphase offers a much more accessible modern alternative on the secondary market. But for most collectors, the appeal isn’t the idea of a Rolex moonphase in and of itself, but rather the exact configuration of the historical reference and what it represents as a brief and unusual chapter of the watchmaker’s lineage.

Rolex Daytona Reference 6265 “The Unicorn”

• Sold at Phillips, Geneva, May 2018. Result: CHF 5,937,500 ($5.9 million)

The Rolex Reference 6265 “Unicorn” is the Daytona that seemed to break the rules collectors thought they understood. For decades, the manual-wind Daytona was known in stainless steel and yellow gold, and this watch broke that pattern, being produced in white gold on special order for a German retailer. Besides that, it features a black “sigma” dial, marked with the small Greek sigma symbols used to indicate gold hour markers. As far as the industry has been able to establish, no second example is known.

For years, the watch was closer to rumor than public object. The collector John Goldberger owned it privately for decades, and when it appeared on Hodinkee’s Talking Watches in 2013, it introduced many collectors to a watch they had never seen before. Goldberger later consigned it to a Phillips charity sale, where it sold for CHF 5,937,500, up from its estimate of CHF 3,000,000-5,000,000. When it sold at the time, it was second only to Paul Newman’s own Daytona among Rolex auction results.

There is no real path to buying one unless this exact watch returns to market. No other white-gold vintage Daytona is known, which means there is no true substitute. However, the look is more reachable. Steel Daytonas with black sigma dials do appear at auction, and they sell for a fraction of what the Unicorn brought. But the appeal of this watch is not only its looks. It is the fact that—within one of Rolex’s most collected families—it is a true piece unique.

Rolex Daytona Reference 6241 “John Player Special”

• Sold at Sotheby’s, Geneva, May 2023. Result: CHF 2,238,000 ($2.49 million)

The Reference 6241 “John Player Special” shows how granular the vintage Daytona market can get. Like Paul Newman’s own watch discussed earlier, its dial belongs to the exotic-dial Daytona family, built around squared sub-registers and contrasting color blocks that early buyers mostly ignored.

Notably, at the top of the Daytona market, the gap between expensive and extraordinary can come down to something as small as the color of a subdial. According to Sotheby’s, Rolex made roughly 3,000 examples of the 6241 between 1966 and 1969, but only about 300 in yellow gold, and the “John Player Special” narrows the field even further with its black dial and gold accents, a look nicknamed for the black-and-gold paint scheme of the John Player Special-sponsored race cars of the era. It is, today, one of the most desired looks in the entire vintage Daytona world.

This particular watch, sold at Sotheby’s, also came equipped with a matching yellow gold riveted bracelet. Most of these bracelets were replaced or lost over time, so it was particularly rare to find an example with its original. Estimated at CHF 600,000-1.2 million, it sold for CHF 2,238,000.

This watch is difficult territory, but not mythical, to obtain. Gold Paul Newman Daytonas appear at auction, and John Player Special examples are known to trade, but the best ones—fresh to market and correct down to the last detail—remain grail-level lots. A plain gold Daytona without this dial is a far easier and far cheaper way into the same metal and era, just without the specific look collectors are paying for here.

Rolex Submariner Reference 6538 “Big Crown”

• Sold at Sotheby’s, December 2025. Result: $431,800

This last one breaks the pattern of the rest of the list. Whereas every other watch here is rare because so few were made or because one specific example carries an unrepeatable story, the Reference 6538 is rare because of what has happened to it since. It is the early Submariner grail, instantly recognizable by its oversized 8mm crown and the absence of crown guards, and it is the exact reference most associated with the Submariner Sean Connery wore as James Bond in Dr. No.

Unlike every other watch on this list, the challenge is less so in finding one, but rather in finding one that has not been ruined by decades of actual use. These were dive watches, and people dove with them, and so bezels got swapped, cases got polished thin, dials aged unevenly and service parts crept in over the years. A collector can find a 6538 without much trouble, but finding one with the right dial, an honest case and real provenance is another matter entirely.

Christie’s set the reference record in 2018, when a rare Explorer-dial example sold for $1,068,500, despite missing its bezel. More recently, Sotheby’s sold a family-owned “Big Crown James Bond” example in December 2025 for $431,800 against a $100,000-$200,000 estimate, proof that even below the record-setting configurations, a fresh and honest early Submariner can still command serious money.

Buying a 6538 itself is realistic, and patience plus good advice goes a long way. But finding an untouched, well-preserved one is the real challenge, and the key distinction that separates this watch from everything else on this list. For collectors priced out even of an honest 6538, Tudor Big Crown Submariners from the same era carry a similar oversized-crown look at a fraction of the cost, with the added appeal of coming from Rolex’s own sibling brand and using similar cases at the time.

In much of the contemporary art world, particularly outside the U.S., resale royalties for artists are a familiar legal and commercial concept. The standard, known as artist’s resale right or droit de suite, is built on the idea that if an artist’s work is resold on the secondary market, the artist should share in the profits. The watch auction market, by comparison, has no equivalent standard. Even as independent watchmakers are discussed using the language of art, with their watches treated as creative works and their names encompassing a major part of the associated cachet, when one of their creations goes on the block, they typically do not benefit financially from the sale.

But Marteau & Co, a Geneva-based auction house founded last year by Arthur Touchot and Leonard Pictet, is trying to bring art-world logic to independent watchmaking. Its central mechanism is what the company calls the Maker’s Fee, whereby 3 percent of the hammer price, taken from Marteau & Co’s 20 percent buyer’s premium, is paid to the original creator after the watch sells at auction. Sellers pay no commission.

“Artists are guaranteed certain rights when their works are sold at auction, but not watchmakers,” Touchot told Observer. “This felt unfair to me, given that auction houses often present independent watchmakers as artists.” He and Pictet have known each other for over a decade, having become friends in 2015 through their work in the watch industry. Over the years, the two collaborated on launches and client events, eventually becoming neighbors in Geneva before founding Marteau & Co together. Touchot serves as CEO, while Pictet leads the company’s commercial side.

Marteau & Co is still new, but the model has already been tested. Its inaugural sale, The First Strike, was held online in October 2025 and achieved CHF 1.52 million across 24 sold lots. Its second sale, The Echo, followed in March 2026 and realized CHF 2.75 million across 29 timepieces—an 80 percent increase over its debut auction. Those results helped establish Marteau & Co not just as a conceptual alternative to the larger houses but also as a boutique platform capable of generating serious numbers in the independent watch market.

The company’s next sale, The Heat Wave, opens today (June 10) and runs through June 17. With 33 lots and estimates ranging from CHF 500 to CHF 600,000, it is focused largely on contemporary independent watchmaking with a smattering of larger maisons. Fifteen of the lots are unique pieces or prototypes, with watches from Kari Voutilainen, Vianney Halter, De Bethune, Laurent Ferrier, Pascal Coyon and others.

Before launching Marteau & Co with Pictet, Touchot spent eight years at Phillips, one of the defining forces in the modern watch auction market. “I joined Phillips during the early phase of the watch department’s rebuild, and had a privileged position within the senior leadership team,” he said. “Being part of that group, I learned how to capture market leadership and how to achieve consistent results. I also had an amazing mentor and the very best auctioneer the world has ever seen, not just in the watches category. But I felt there was space to create something new, much smaller in size and in scope, and to do things my way, with the brands I enjoy the most.”

The difference is not only philosophical. Marteau & Co’s buyer’s premium is 20 percent plus VAT, below the posted first-tier buyer’s premium schedules of the major international houses in Geneva. Sotheby’s lists a 28 percent buyer’s premium in Switzerland up to and including CHF 1.6 million; Christie’s lists 27 percent in Geneva up to CHF 1.2 million; and Phillips lists 27 percent for Geneva watch auctions up to and including CHF 1.6 million. Marteau & Co’s 0 percent seller’s commission is also presented as part of that collector-friendly structure, though seller terms at larger houses can vary by consignment.

“We’ve adapted the whole commission structure so that everyone involved in the auction feels a bit better,” Touchot explained. “The seller’s fee is 0 percent, so they keep more of the result achieved, and the buyer’s fee is only 20 percent, so they spend less. We take 3 of the 20 percent and redistribute that to the original maker, because it feels like the right thing to do.”

Most of the watches Marteau & Co offers are consigned privately rather than by brands. Touchot says roughly 90 percent of the pieces come from collector consignments, with the remaining 10 percent coming directly from watchmakers. When a piece comes from the maker, Touchot says, that is disclosed in the catalogue.

That distinction matters because Marteau & Co is not positioning itself as a novelty-release platform, even as some watchmakers have responded to the model by offering new pieces specifically for the sales. Among them, The Heat Wave notably includes a Furlan Marri Mechaquartz Chronograph prototype, estimated at CHF 500-CHF 1,000, and a SpaceOne x Baltic Piece Unique Seconde Majeure “Graté,” estimated at CHF 3,000-CHF 6,000—two first-time offerings that came to the sale after direct conversations with the brands.

“The response has been so positive from watchmakers that they have kind of organically reached out and asked us if we would include a piece that they made specifically for the platform,” Touchot said. “We try to be intentional in the curation, but the through line is always: are these pieces that we think our clients will be excited by?”

Both lots sit far below the highest-estimated entries, but their inclusion reflects the breadth Marteau & Co is deliberately trying to capture. Touchot noted that many collectors of independent watchmaking are also collectors of microbrands, and pointed out that the auction catalogue starts at just CHF 500 with the Furlan Marri. “All independent watchmakers deserve this right to a royalty,” he said. “Never mind where they are from, or if they make watches under CHF 1,000 or above CHF 1 million.”

At the top of The Heat Wave is Voutilainen’s Regulator Decimal Repeater, estimated at CHF 300,000-600,000. Touchot visited Voutilainen recently to see the piece in person, something he and Pictet try to do when a maker’s watch is consigned. “We spent an hour talking about how he selected the ébauche [base caliber] for it, and why he was one of the few watchmakers who still worked with vintage pocket watch movements. It was really enriching for me personally.”

Other major entries include the De Bethune x Urwerk Only Watch 2019 collaboration, estimated at CHF 140,000-280,000; the Vianney Halter Antiqua “Piece Unique,” estimated at CHF 100,000-200,000; and a Laurent Ferrier Galet Secret Tourbillon Piece Unique, estimated at CHF 60,000-120,000. The sale also includes pieces from F.P. Journe, Urban Jürgensen, Ludovic Ballouard, Romain Gauthier, Grönefeld, Konstantin Chaykin, H. Moser & Cie., Berneron, Daniel Roth and Lang & Heyne.

Marteau & Co’s sales are digital for now, though all the watches come to Geneva, and private previews can be arranged for prospective buyers. Brands are often contacted when one of their watches is consigned, and, when possible, Marteau & Co involves the original watchmaker in the cataloguing process.

The intentionally small catalogue is itself a statement. One collector described Marteau & Co as the slow food of the auction industry—a phrase Touchot has adopted as his own shorthand for what the house is trying to do. “These are extremely important watches, many of which took years to make, and drowning them in large catalogues feels a little irresponsible,” he said. “I think 30 is a good number. It’s enough for the sale to feel like an event, but it’s manageable for us, and gives us the ability to really focus on every watch.”

For Marteau & Co, The Heat Wave is both their signature summer auction and an opportunity to showcase their distinction. The house has already demonstrated that its model can produce strong results. The larger question is whether a platform built around maker rights and deliberate curation can shift how collectors and the watch auction market think about what is owed to creators.

Touchot believes the appetite for a house like his is there. The strongest sign so far, he said, has not been any single result, but the fact that collectors have begun coming to Marteau & Co because watchmakers recommended them. That, he says, “means a whole lot more to me than a big number with lots of zeros.”

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Five watches from the Kronos collection will cross the rostrum in the Important Watches sale, with the remaining pieces scheduled to go on the block in November. The broader auction also includes The Eternity Collection, The Chronicle Collection and other notable consignments, bringing together major pieces from Patek Philippe, F.P. Journe, Audemars Piguet, Greubel Forsey, Cartier, Harry Winston and others, for a total of nearly 300 lots.

At the front of the sale is a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 5002P-001 in platinum, one of the most complicated modern wristwatches produced by the manufacturer. Beyond the top spot, the sale includes an early Black Label F.P. Journe, a Philippe Dufour-linked Greubel Forsey project, a ruby-set Royal Oak made for Dobner, a Beyer-signed Patek Philippe perpetual calendar, a platinum Cartier Crash and a Harry Winston Opus 3 by Vianney Halter.

Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 5002P-001 

• Lot 2424 | Estimate: HK$10,000,000-20,000,000

The clear leader of the sale is the Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 5002P-001, offered as part of the Kronos collection. The model will be familiar to readers who followed Observer’s coverage of Phillips’ Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII, in which a later Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 6002G-010 was one of the top lots. In the Important Watches sale, Christie’s brings the focus to the earlier Ref. 5002P-001, a platinum double-dial grand complication that sits among the most ambitious modern wristwatches made by the brand.

The watch brings together 12 complications, including a cathedral minute repeater, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, retrograde date, moon age and angular motion, sidereal time and sky chart. The front dial displays mean solar time alongside the perpetual calendar and retrograde date, while the reverse turns the watch into something closer to a miniature observatory, with a celestial chart of the northern hemisphere and sidereal time.

According to Christie’s, only around 40 examples of the Ref. 5002 are believed to have been made in platinum. With an estimate of HK$10,000,000-20,000,000, the Sky Moon Tourbillon is the natural focal point of the first Kronos offering and one of the clearest measures of top-level appetite for modern Patek Philippe grand complications.

F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance RT “Black Label Parking Meter” 

• Lot 2354 | Estimate: HK$6,000,000-12,000,000

For plenty of independent-watch collectors, the most interesting lot may be the F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance RT “Black Label Parking Meter.” The Chronomètre à Résonance is among Journe’s signature creations, built around two independent gear trains designed to work in resonance with one another. The idea is that each oscillator helps stabilize the rate of the other (in literal resonance), theoretically improving overall timekeeping precision.
This watch is especially notable as a platinum Black Label model, a series available only to existing F.P. Journe clients. Christie’s describes this example, case no. 020-RT, as the earliest known RT Black Label “Parking Meter” to reach the market, with around 18 examples of this version believed to have been made and only four publicly known to date.
The estimate is HK$6,000,000-12,000,000, so the watch is hardly hiding in the catalogue. But important Journe pieces can often become bigger stories than expected once bidding starts. And for this model—with resonance, Black Label status and an early-known configuration all working in its favor—it’s one to watch closely.

Greubel Forsey, Philippe Dufour and Michel Boulanger Le Garde Temps—Naissance d’une Montre

• Lot 2343 | Estimate: HK$5,000,000-10,000,000

Another major independent-watchmaking lot is Le Garde Temps—Naissance d’une Montre, the project developed by Greubel Forsey, Philippe Dufour and Michel Boulanger through the Time Æon Foundation. While Greubel Forsey is best known for highly technical modern watchmaking, this project had a more specific purpose: to demonstrate that a watch could still be made by hand using traditional techniques and crafts.
The project was conceived as an effort to transmit classical watchmaking skills that were at risk of disappearing in an increasingly industrialized field. Boulanger, a watchmaking teacher, worked under the guidance of industry legends Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey and Philippe Dufour to create a handmade tourbillon wristwatch using traditional methods. The resulting series is extremely small, with this example listed as case no. 2 of 11.

Estimated at HK$5,000,000-10,000,000, the watch sits near the top of the sale. But its appeal differs from that of many of the other major lots presented. Rather than a modern grand complication built around a long list of functions, the Naissance d’une Montre is about how the watch was made and, even more importantly, about who was involved in making it.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Ref. 26334OR, made for Dobner

• Lot 2420 | Estimate: HK$1,200,000-2,400,000

Another highlight from the Kronos collection is a Royal Oak Ref. 26334OR, made for the Italian retailer Dobner. Housed in solid 18k pink gold, the watch is set with 1,196 diamonds totaling approximately 8.05 carats and 55 baguette-cut rubies totaling approximately 3.86 carats. The watch stands out because, plainly, it’s hard to miss. Notably, Christie’s describes the present example as a “first-of-its-kind,” giving the watch a more specific identity than a standard precious-metal Royal Oak chronograph.

The watch’s estimate of HK$1,200,000-2,400,000 places it below many of the most mechanically complicated pieces in the sale. But the watch combines several collecting categories at once: Royal Oak demand, precious metal, gem setting and special-order rarity. That should make it one of the more visually immediate lots when it reaches the block.

Patek Philippe Ref. 3940J “First Series” Beyer, Doré Dial

• Lot 2326 | Estimate: HK$1,500,000-3,000,000

The sale also includes a group of Patek Philippe Ref. 3940 perpetual calendars, but the standout is the Ref. 3940J “First Series” retailed by Beyer. Introduced in 1985, the Ref. 3940 became one of the defining perpetual calendars of the late 20th century, bringing Patek Philippe’s high-complication work into a slim, automatic and highly wearable format.
This example adds several layers of collector interest. Housed in 18k yellow gold, it features a Doré dial, German calendar and Beyer retailer signature. Christie’s describes it as the only known non-anniversary example, which is a meaningful distinction for a reference that collectors pay close attention to for series, dial variations, retailer signatures and production details.

Its estimate of HK$1,500,000-3,000,000 is already a serious number for a Ref. 3940. But signed Patek Philippe dials often do very well at auction, and this one has more going for it than the Beyer signature alone. The first-series construction, Doré dial, German calendar and apparent uniqueness should all help.

Cartier Crash Ref. 2969 

• Lot 2261 | Estimate: HK$2,000,000-4,000,000

The Cartier Crash Ref. 2969 brings a design-driven highlight to a sale largely led by complicated watches. Instead of a long list of functions, the appeal of this lot lies in its case shape, its rarity and the current strength of the Cartier market. This example is cased in platinum and dates to circa 2008.

The Crash is one of Cartier’s most recognizable designs, and interest in the model has only grown as collectors have paid more attention to the brand’s shaped watches beyond the Tank. With an estimate of HK$2,000,000-4,000,000, the Ref. 2969 is not hiding in the catalog. Still, Crash models often draw attention when they come to auction, and this example could be one of the stronger non-complicated results of the sale.

Harry Winston Opus 3 by Vianney Halter

• Lot 2453 | Estimate: HK$600,000-1,000,000

One of the more interesting potential sleeper lots in the sale is the Harry Winston Opus 3, created with Vianney Halter. The Opus series occupies a particular place in early 21st-century independent watchmaking, pairing Harry Winston with some of the era’s most creative independent watchmakers and giving them a platform for highly unconventional ideas.

The Opus 3 is one of the stranger watches from the series. Housed in 18k pink gold, it uses a digital time display and date, with a case and dial layout that sit far outside the usual language of a dress watch or complicated wristwatch. It’s not an easy watch, but that is also what makes it interesting, coming from an era when independent watchmaking was still generally more experimental as a collecting category.
Estimated at HK$600,000-1,000,000, the Opus 3 sits well below the top Patek Philippe, F.P. Journe and Greubel Forsey lots. But for collectors interested in that earlier side of independent watchmaking, it may be one of the sale’s more compelling under-the-radar entries.

But the Ref. 2523 is not the only reason all eyes will be on Geneva on May 9 and 10. Held by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the Hôtel Président Wilson, the sale will put more than 200 timepieces on the block, spanning more than three centuries of superior watchmaking. Beyond the enamel-dial Patek Philippe at the top, the sale includes early F.P. Journe Souscription watches, complicated mid-century Rolex references, a modern Patek Philippe grand complication and a rare wartime Audemars Piguet.

Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 6002G-010

• Lot 144 | Estimate: CHF 2,000,000-4,000,000

If the Ref. 2523 “South America” represents Patek Philippe’s mid-century work, the Sky Moon Tourbillon shows the manufacture in full, modern grand complication mode. The 2018 Ref. 6002G-010 houses 12 complications inside an elaborately hand-engraved 18k white gold case, a highly elaborate combination of perpetual calendar, moon-phase, sidereal time and celestial display.

The front dial shows mean solar time alongside a perpetual calendar with retrograde date and moon-phase, while the reverse turns the watch into something closer to a miniature observatory, with a celestial chart of the northern sky, sidereal time and the moon-phase and orbit. This example is one of the few produced with a black enamel dial and, according to Phillips, only the second of its kind to appear at international auction.

With an estimate of CHF 2,000,000-4,000,000, the timepiece carries the highest projection in the sale after the Ref. 2523. But where the South America world-timer draws much of its intrigue from vintage rarity and enamel work, the Sky Moon Tourbillon puts Patek Philippe’s mechanical ambitions on full display.

F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance “Souscription” No. 18

• Lot 6 | Estimate: CHF 450,000-900,000

For plenty of independent collectors, the most interesting lot may be the F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance “Souscription” No. 18, dating to circa 2000. The Souscription series is effectively the origin story of F.P. Journe as an independent manufacture. Borrowing from a sales model used by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the late 18th Century, François-Paul Journe asked a small circle of collectors to place deposits on watches before they were made. Their trust helped fund the workshop; in return, they received some of the first pieces from what would become one of the defining independent brands of the modern era.

The Chronomètre à Résonance followed the original Tourbillon Souverain à Remontoir d’Égalité, with early supporters invited to order Résonance watches bearing the same numbers as their tourbillons. This example belongs to the original group of 20 and is further distinguished by its two-tone platinum and 18k pink gold case, a configuration believed to have been made in only five Souscription Résonance examples. Of those, three are known to feature 18k white gold dials, including this watch.

The watch’s estimate is CHF 450,000-900,000. That range is already serious, but early Journe has a way of becoming more than just another lot once bidding starts. This example sits close to the beginning of the story: one of the first 20 Résonance watches, tied to the original Souscription clients and made before F.P. Journe had become shorthand for the modern independent market. This is one to watch closely.

Rolex Ref. 6062 in stainless steel

• Lot 88 | Estimate: CHF 500,000-1,000,000

Rolex is represented by two major complicated vintage references in the sale, but the stainless steel Ref. 6062 is—by a hair—the more interesting of the pair. Launched in 1950, the watch was the first automatic Rolex to combine a triple calendar and moon-phase within a waterproof Oyster case.

That combination feels a bit strange through the lens of Rolex today, with the brand now defined above all by sports watches, professional instruments and incremental refinements to its watches’ looks and mechanical performance. The Ref. 6062 belongs to a different era, when Rolex could still seem genuinely experimental, pairing everyday case logic with a dial full of calendar information and lunar display.

Phillips notes that the present example is especially well preserved, with a two-tone dial and a case retaining its original factory proportions. Estimated at CHF 500,000-1,000,000, it is one of the sale’s strongest Rolex lots and a reminder that vintage Rolex complications have their own distinct place in the market, separate from the Daytona gravitational field.

Rolex “Dato-Compax Killy” Ref. 6036 in yellow gold

• Lot 118 | Estimate: CHF 500,000-1,000,000

The second major Rolex lot is a yellow gold Ref. 6036, better known as the “Dato-Compax Killy.” Introduced in 1951, the reference combines a triple calendar with a chronograph, making it one of the most complicated wristwatches Rolex produced during the period.

The present example is housed in 18k yellow gold and described by Phillips as being in an extraordinary state of preservation. Its estimate of CHF 500,000-1,000,000 matches the stainless steel Ref. 6062, giving the sale two significant complicated Rolex references in the same projected range.

If the Ref. 6062 is the more unusual calendar-moon-phase Rolex, the Ref. 6036 is the more overtly instrument-like watch, with its chronograph and calendar functions arranged across a busy but surprisingly composed mid-century dial. Together, they show a side of vintage Rolex that sits far from the modern sports-watch shorthand now most associated with the brand.

Audemars Piguet Ref. 5503 triple-calendar chronograph

• Lot 26 | Estimate: CHF 400,000-800,000

One of Audemars Piguet’s most compelling entries is a 1942 Ref. 5503 triple-calendar chronograph, estimated at CHF 400,000-800,000. Only five examples are known, according to Phillips, placing it among the rarest watches in the sale’s calendar-complication group.

The watch is cased in stainless steel with 14k pink-gold accents, which, according to the auction house, was possibly a reflection of wartime material restrictions, and features teardrop lugs with a balanced calendar chronograph dial. The mixed-metal case gives the watch an unusual character, while the complication itself nods to AP’s history with technical watchmaking, which runs as deep as any of the market’s other key players.

For Audemars Piguet, so often viewed today through the Royal Oak and the integrated-bracelet sports watch, the Ref. 5503 is one of the auction’s more interesting lots. And while the watch itself isn’t the top projected result for the sale, it may be the kind of lot that reminds the market that AP was making complicated timepieces long before the integrated bracelet came to define its modern identity.