Watches, a down year for auctions, but one-offs and millionaires shine through
Hammertrack report 2023 sales -13%, but most valuable models +2%, led by Patek Philippe
2' min read
2' min read
The most recent photo posted for his 117,000 followers is in a yoga pose, waiting for 'the auction to begin': this is how Zach Lu, a 30-year-old collector from New York (of whom all that is known is that he is a partner in Municipal, a sportswear brand founded by the actor Mark Wahlberg), was preparing to win the most valuable piece auctioned by Only Watch, the charity auction (its proceeds go to Duchenne muscular dystrophy research) in Geneva on 10 May last, which had been postponed in November after some participating brands raised doubts about the management of those funds. Lu is a Patek Philippe aficionado (it was he who in 2021 won the only Nautilus 5711 with a Tiffany blue dial in existence, for $6.5 million) and he had no obstacle in winning another unique model, the 6301A-010 with a guilloché dial, for $17.3 million, ten times the initial estimate. A figure that alone generated more than half of the $31.2 million total raised by the auction.
Although 2023 saw watch sales drop by 13% according to the Hammertrack Report, largely due to the normalisation of the market after the record levels of the immediate post-Covid period, the passion for unique pieces shows no signs of weakening: this is confirmed, for example, by the sale of the magnificent "Pendule Magnétique", Cartier's magnetic water watch dating from 1929, one of four made by Maurice Couët, among the most talented watchmakers the maison has ever had, which was beaten by Phillips in Hong Kong for $192 million and thus became the most valuable Cartier watch ever sold in Asia.
On 5 June, Sotheby's held an auction in New York that offered another unique Patek Philippe, the Grandmaster Chime 6300G-010 made for Sylvester Stallone in 2021 and still in its case, estimated at $2.5-5 million and eventually sold for $5.2 million along with other one of a kind accessories such as cufflinks and a leather-clad iPad from the house.P. Journe Vagabondage that Jean Todt had given to Michael Schumacher at Christmas 2006 to celebrate his seventh Formula One world title was sold on 14 May at Christie's in Geneva for $1.6 million.
Among the most beautiful pieces that have appeared in the most recent auctions, another model of great rarity stands out: the 1953 Rolex 6102 'La Caravelle', with a caravel painted with cloisonné enamel on the dial by Marguerite Koch, one of the most popular artists in the Geneva ateliers of the time, fetched $1.4 million, tripling its initial estimate.
