The watch auctioneer Antiquorum has reported a ‘historic performance’ in its two-day Geneva sale.
The international auction house was founded in the city in 1974, and this 50th anniversary sale brought in more than 14 million Swiss francs (just over £10m/$15 million) when the buyer’s premium had been added.
The highlights included two ultra-rare world timers from Patek Philippe.
Lot 591 was Patek’s Ref. 605 HU DE, World Time Cloisonné from 1943, first sold in November 1946. Antiquorum calls this 18k pink gold watch ‘one of the most important world time pocket watches ever to appear on the market’ and after an estimate of CHF 1,000,000-2,000,000, it sold for CHF 3,125,000 including the buyer’s premium.
Another world timer, this one a wristwatch, was Lot 590, the Patek Philippe Ref. 2523 World Timer with gold guilloche dial and twin crowns. This watch from the mid-Fifties sold at the upper end of its estimate, CHF 1,937,500 including the buyer’s premium.
Another Patek, this time a Ref. 1463 chronograph, was at Lot 134. This watch from 1953 was retailed by Eberhard and has a two-tone silver dial and an 18k yellow gold case. It was estimated to sell from CHF 100,000 to150,000, but ended up making CHF 295,000 including the premium.
An interesting modern classic came in at Lot 215, with the FP Journe Tourbillon Souverain. This manually wound watch was a chance for someone to get their hands on one of François-Paul Journe’s masterpieces. The platinum-cased example, dating from c. 2001, was estimated to hammer for CHF 200,000-400,000, but ended up fetching CHF 475,000 with the buyer’s premium.
There was of course a good representation for Rolex, with a nice Paul Newman Daytona at Lot 569 going for CHF 175,000 including the premium.
On the offbeat side, there was a very unusual pocket watch at Lot 388, the Charles Ducommun Prophet Moses automaton pocket watch, circa 1820, in 18k pink gold, which sold for CHF 425,000 with the buyer’s premium.
The sale took place on 11-12th May at the Beau-Rivage Genève Hotel and was led by Romain Réa, CEO of Antiquorum, and Julien Schaerer, Antiquorum’s Managing Director in Geneva. 84% of a total of 589 lots were sold.