Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is thrilled to welcome you to The Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, online auction, running from 12:00 PM CET, Thursday, September 5, to 2:00 PM CET, Thursday, September 12. Featuring 70 different high-end luxury wristwatches, the sale covers everything from A. Lange & Söhne and F.P. Journe to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe, including the various staff highlights featured below.
We have some good news and bad news to share.
The not-so-great news? Well, we're now in the heart of September, and it's fair to say that summer in the Northern Hemisphere is officially over.
The good news, however, is that a new watch auction season has just begun! We kicked off our first sale of the fall 2024 season with the Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, online auction.
It's a fantastic catalog consisting of 70 total lots, mostly focused on special and rare modern timepieces, but there's naturally a number of vintage and neo-vintage gems interspersed throughout.
Our Geneva team of specialists and staffers couldn't be more excited to reveal the full catalog, but if you need some help in getting started, we're highlighting a number of what we think are the most underrated and interesting watches in the sale right here.
Lot 1: A 2020 A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Automatik in 18k white gold with 'Terra Brown' dial
Estimate: CHF 12,000 - 24,000
Tiffany To, Head of Sale
My favourite watch in the sale is the Saxonia Automatik as it is the perfect example of how a brand can tweak small details to turn a watch from something attractive and well-made, to one that is extraordinary.
With an eye-catching 38.5 millimeter case in white gold and featuring an arresting "Terra Brown" dial, the present watch is an exceedingly rare and attractive edition of the classic Saxonia Automatic. Made to commemorate the grand reopening of A. Lange & Söhne's Ginza boutique in Tokyo in 2016, the model was released in highly limited numbers to the brand's very best and loyal clients. While not an official limited production run, very few examples were produced. Alongside the white gold case, the brand also launched the model in pink gold.
The "Terra Brown" dial itself is very attractive, and invigorates the classic model. A milky brown shade, it also has a beautiful sheen that comes from the solid silver base, which changes slightly in tone depending on the light.
Lot 30: A 2003 Urwerk UR-103 in 18k white gold
Estimate: CHF 20,000 - 40,000
Alexandre Ghotbi, Deputy Chairman, Watches, Head of Watches, Europe, and Middle East
The Urwerk 103 holds a special place in my heart as I perfectly remember the first time I saw one in a shop window, I was blown away in a totally irrational manner. Was it the case shape, the way time was read or the « control panel » on the back? I can’t pinpoint what it was but the watch spoke to me then and speaks to me 20 years later, which is the sign of its timelessness.
Lot 11: A 2017 Pascal Coyon Chronomètre in stainless steel
Estimate: CHF 5,000 - 10,000
Arthur Touchot, International Head Of Digital Strategy, Specialist
As the resident Frenchman on the PHILLIPS specialist team, I may have a natural inclination towards Pascal Coyon’s Chronometer #19/20. Indeed, it's always inspiring to witness a French watchmaker succeed on the global stage without having to relocate to Switzerland, particularly given Coyon's patience in earning acclaim. His dedication to his craft is evident in the exquisite finish of his chronometers, which are based on the Unitas 6498 but are reworked thoroughly to become reminiscent of 20th-century pocket watch movements.
A key highlight on the movement side is the viper head stamp on the balance cock, a mark of precision that confirms the watch has passed the stringent Besançon Observatory trials. While PHILLIPS has sold another example in the past, I find the details of this piece, such as the yellow-finished movement and the understated dial without red accents, more appealing. For collectors seeking a beautifully made “Fab. In France” (made in France) wristwatch that tells a story of passion and perseverance, Coyon's Chronometer #19/20 ticks all the boxes.
Lot 6: A 2013 Patek Philippe World Time ref. 5131G-001 in 18k white gold
Estimate: CHF 60,000 - 120,000
Marcello de Marco, Senior International Specialist
As an enthusiast of vintage timepieces, I simply cannot resist the allure of a cloisonné world time Patek Philippe. with the vintage examples undisputably numbered among the most important vintage creations from any brand, the modern iterations pack the same aesthetic punch and bring the lineage to modernity.
The colorful cloisonné dial makes these models strike the perfect balance between vintage inspired stateliness and whimsical lightheartedness, and arguably this white gold version has the highest versatility in terms of strap matching. furthermore, this discontinued model features 40 mm diameter, a size that I personally consider a “sweet spot” for wearability.
Lot 53: A circa 2000 Breguet Bi-Retrograde Tourbillon Ref. 3657 in 18k yellow gold
Estimate: CHF 25,000 - 50,000
Clément Finet, Watchmaker, Senior Watch Specialist
Being a Frenchman with, I have to admit, rather "classical tastes," I can’t help but choose a Breguet today… And what a Breguet! When one thinks of Abraham-Louis B., one word, or should I say « complication », comes to mind immediately and that is Tourbillon of course. The Tourbillon has always fascinated. Not only is it a technical wonder. It’s also the most eye catching of all complications.
In my eyes, Breguet equals Tourbillon and vice versa. Thus, if had to choose a Tourbillon, I would inevitably fall for a Breguet and it just so happens that we are offering my favorite version of it (Reference 3657) in this online auction. Check it out. It’s rather « big » size (40 mm) and asymmetric dial layout should blow you away. Simply stunning. It's Breguet at it’s best!
Lot 29: A circa 2015 Parmigiani Fleurier Ovale Pantographe in 18k pink gold
Estimate: CHF 3,000 - 6,000
Logan Baker, Senior Editorial Manager
Michel Parmigiani’s reference points in horological design are as diverse as the watchmaker’s imagination, with sprinklings of influence arriving via his many restoration projects, where he encounters rare and obscure complications. A case in point is the Ovale Pantographe, a masterpiece whose focal point is a pair of telescopic hour and minute hands engineered to extend and retract along the uneven contours of its namesake oval case.
Parmigiani developed the watch after he encountered an 18th-century pocket watch with the exact same complication. The watch, created by the English jewelers and watchmakers Vardon and Stedman, arrived in the Parmigiani restoration workshops in 1997. But while that piece was one of a kind, the Ovale Pantographe, first premiered in 2013, is a production model crafted from modern materials, using the resources and technologies available in a state-of-the-art-horological studio. Taking a handmade curiosity and industrializing it was a challenge matched by the skill and ingenuity of Michel Parmigiani.
While the telescopic hands do not technically constitute a horological complication – they tell the time alone – they do present Parmigiani watchmakers with a similarly significant challenge. When you consider that a typical watch hand constitutes a single part, you begin to understand what an undertaking the Ovale Pantographe is. Nevertheless, the watch is high-complication in the traditional sense intended by Swiss watchmakers – it boasts a power reserve of eight days.
The hands alone in the Parmigiani Ovale Pantographe take approximately four days to assemble. There are 32 components to each hand. The mechanism beneath the dial that actuates the extension and retraction of the telescopic hands consists of two pawls in a cam – essentially the same mechanism that intrigued Parmigiani during the Vardon and Stedman restoration.
The challenge for Michel Parmigiani lay in taking his inspiration, found in a pocket watch and worn in a static position, and making it suitably durable for wear on the wrist. He had to find the right compromise between the weight of the mechanism’s components, the system’s balance, and the reliability of the watch’s timekeeping.
After an exhaustive search for the right material from which to craft the hands, Parmigiani decided on an alloy from the auto industry that consisted of aluminum with a magnesium base. This alloy was the only metal that would bend in all the necessary ways. Powering the watch itself is a movement made not of brass, or even the more common German silver. Instead, the movement is made of 18-karat gold, a metal known not just for its high price and warm luster, but also for its relative ductility.
You can view the complete Phillips Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, Online Auction catalog here.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
Recommended Reading
Atelier Wen Embraces Multiculturalism In Its Watchmaking