Geneva auction breaks records as rare Patek sells for $10 million
The highly anticipated sale of the rare Patek Philippe Ref. 2523 ‘South America’ world-time wristwatch took place at the weekend.
At the Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo ‘The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII’ the watch sold for $10,247,000, making it just the second vintage Patek Philippe watch to ever sell at auction for more than $10 million.
The 18k yellow-gold, two-crown Ref. 2523 features a polychrome cloisonné enamel dial depicting a map of South America, and is one of only two known examples.
More generally, ‘The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII’ broke records aplenty, suggesting that the pre-owned watch market is in rude health.
It made $96,328,083 from 224 lots, with 14 watches surpassing the CHF 1 million mark. One of these was the two-tone Chronomètre à Résonance ‘Souscription No. 18’ from F.P. Journe, which achieved an incredible sale price of CHF 4,875,500.
“Some 30 years ago, an annual turnover of one hundred million dollars for a global watch department was unthinkable,” said Phillips senior consultants Aurel Bacs and Livia Russo. “Now, with this auction, watches are sitting side by side on the podium with fine art, extraordinary jewellery, historic rare motorcars, at the top of the collecting world and will continue their upward journey.”
Meanwhile, Phillips’ Alexandre Ghotbi and Tiffany To added: “Geneva Watch Auction XXIII was a statement. The energy in the room, the calibre of the pieces, and the intense excitement in the auction room confirmed what we feel every time this community comes together: that great watchmaking will always matter.
“The market is not just healthy, it is hungry. Hungry for relevance, for craftsmanship, for quality without compromise. We could not be more energised for what comes next.”
