Like every year, it was the French auction house Artcurial that had the privilege of calling the first hammer on the watch auctions!
On 16 and 18 January this year, more than 150 watches were put up for auction. A rigorous and precise selection that the most demanding international amateurs and collectors were able to appreciate.
With a result of more than 3.2 million euros, this first sale of the year confirms the dynamism of the market and the growing interest in vintage watches, but also and above all it prefigures a particular revival of interest in watches with complications and pieces with prestigious origins.
Here is a look at the 10 watches that marked the first auctions of 2023.
HISTORICAL WATCHES
Watches closely linked to personalities who left their mark on their era always arouse curiosity and extreme interest. Because behind the object there is a man or an institution that fascinates, these watches, charged with history and emotion, gave rise to three fine auction battles.
1. A Type 20 bought by the Breguet Museum
This steel chronograph was sold on November 16, 1955 to the French Air Ministry by Breguet (lot 234). Nearly 70 years after leaving the factory, this superb vintage timepiece will now be on display in the Breguet Museum collections.
Sold for 47 232 €, more than double its estimate, this result confirms that the museums and heritage departments of the major brands are still very active players on the collector’s market.
2. A Rolex sold by Chaumet to King Hassan II
120 000 €, is the price recorded for a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date with a rare bloodstone dial (lot 226)! The particularity of this watch is that it was ordered from the jeweller Chaumet in Paris by King Hassan II, who is said to have given it to his doctor as a sign of gratitude and recognition.
It was in the 1970s, and with the takeover of Breguet, that the French jeweller developed a passion for watchmaking. The boutique on Place Vendôme quickly became a Parisian address for all lovers of Swiss watches, as Chaumet was the official retailer of the finest manufacturers: Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet.
It is exceptionally rare to find a signed Rolex piece with Chaumet inventory numbers. This watch, together with a pair of Chaumet yellow gold “President” cufflinks, was a collector’s item that connoisseurs recognised.
If King Hassan II was one of the most important clients of the house, he was also one of the great friends of Pierre Chaumet. Hassan II also appears in the accounts and archives of the company under several pseudonyms. The privileged links between the Chaumet family and the Sultans of
Morocco date back to the middle of the 19th century. King Hassan II was a great lover of watchmaking and built up an impressive collection and acquired numerous timepieces from the Parisian jeweller during his reign.
3. Special order from the Shah of Iran to Vacheron Constantin
11 546 €, nearly 12 times its estimate, is the superb price that this lovely present watch signed by Vacheron Constantin (lot 725) achieved! Manufactured in the early 1970s, this watch was a special order from the Iranian royal family, probably for the celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire in Persepolis, which was scheduled for October 1971.
Particularly rare on the market, these Iranian coin watches always attract great interest when they reappear at auction. The record price recorded for one of these watches is €50,000, a result obtained in Geneva several years ago!
CONFIDENTIAL EDITIONS
Rarity remains one of the criteria favoured by the great amateurs in the world of collecting. Special series reserved exclusively for a handful of happy few always achieve very good results when they are offered to the general public on the secondary market.
4. A special edition « 13 rue de la Paix » »
85 280 €, was the price to pay for a very special edition to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Cartier’s historic boutique at 13 rue de la Paix in Paris (lot 281).
An emblematic address of French elegance inaugurated in 1899, 13 rue de la Paix was much more than a place of sale, it was also a magical creative space when in the 1930s Jeanne Toussaint set up her office there.
The “13” remains the shop for unique pieces or special orders, the one that offers the most exceptional and confidential pieces.
This “Tortue monopoussoir” model in white gold was sold exclusively at 13 rue de la Paix in 1999 and offered only to the most loyal customers of the house. Issued in only 13 pieces, its dial subtly refers to the historic Parisian address: the number 13 maliciously replaces the 12!
To date, only 3 examples have reappeared on the second market (n° 4, 7 and 12), so it is a collector’s item whose value will certainly never depreciate.
5. Tudor, at her majesty’s service
This steel Tudor Black Bay was produced in a limited edition of 300 pieces especially for the members of the RaSP, the Royalty and Specialist Protection Unit.
This elite unit of the British police is made up of officers who provide protection for the Royal Family and the security of government ministers, as well as foreign heads of state on official visits to the UK.
Produced in 2022 to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, this model was consigned by a former member of the RaSP who was responsible for the personal protection of members of the Royal Family for 10 years. It was commissioned in 2008 and travelled with the Royal Family and provided security in the UK and Scotland. The watch was sold with a letter from the Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police thanking the protection officer for his professionalism and total dedication during his service.
This model, normally unavailable to the general public, is particularly rare on the market. Among the 300 manufactured pieces, this was the third watch to be offered at international auction, which explains the price of 39 312 € obtained during the sale (lot 207).
COMPLICATIONS AND GRAND COMPLICATIONS
In recent years, sports models have certainly been the most sought-after watches. From the Daytona to the Royal Oak, not forgetting the Nautilus, the market has been crazy about these watches that revolutionised their era. However, the beginning of this year marks the return in force of collectors towards watches with complications and Haute Horlogerie.
6. Ref. 3940, Philippe Stern’s favourite watch
rebirth of an industry after the quartz crisis. Daring a return to grand complications, reaffirming its know-how, going against the grain of trends, was the gamble taken by Patek Philippe in 1985 with this perpetual calendar, a complication hitherto reserved for the great connoisseurs.
The ref. 3940 is one of the longest running models in the history of the Manufacture. The last one, produced between 1995 and 2006, is the most accomplished of all. Among all the pieces produced, the pink gold models are not very common and represent about 20% of the pieces produced from 1989. Sold for 49 140 € this rose gold version from 2004 ticked all the boxes of the perfect collector’s item (lot 297)!
An unavoidable reference, it is Philippe Stern’s favourite watch, the one he wears every day, no doubt out of pride for having been able to reinvent himself “when, in Switzerland, everyone was throwing away their tools and only talking about quartz”.
7. Ref. 3970, a mythical chronograph
Mixing styles and associating the elegance of a perpetual calendar with the functionality of a chronograph was a stroke of genius dared by Patek Philippe in 1940. Combining these two complications was not at first intuitive, and it was even a daring challenge.
First there was the ref. 1518, then the mythical 2499, and more recently the ref. 3970. Produced from 1986 to 2004, it is the brand’s modern chronograph par excellence. If it is a fascinating timepiece, it is also a timepiece with great potential. Its price, particularly high over the last 10 years, makes this watch very attractive to enthusiasts, who see it as a collector’s item with great potential.
The model offered for sale, from the 4th generation (produced from 1994), would have been produced in only 2,000 pieces. A particularly limited series which may explain the superb result obtained during the sale: 111 520 € (lot 246).
8. Tourbillon Souverain Ruthénium, the exclusiveness by François-Paul Journe
352 800 €, is the price of the technical and conceptual genius of F. P. Journe for a very complicated modern wristwatch that does honour to Haute Horlogerie!
Recognised as a creator of exceptional watches, François-Paul Journe has become one of the finest signatures of contemporary watchmaking.
Awarded the Aiguille d’Or at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2004, and voted “watch of the year” in Japan that same year, the Tourbillon Souverain is a model that is particularly sought after by watch lovers.
This watch is even more so, as it is equipped with an additional complication: the remontoir d’égalité. Issued in a very special series of 99 pieces in Ruthenium, a platinum derivative, this timepiece represented a rare opportunity to acquire a collector’s item that is almost impossible to find (lot 298).
9. Célestial, an exceptional astronomical watch
A timepiece that revives the great tradition of astronomical watches that have marked the history of watchmaking since the 12th century, it was a daring move. Patek Philippe did so in 2002 with the launch of the Célestial, one of the most important horological complications ever developed by the brand.
A testament to exceptional know-how, this watch allows the wearer to admire in real time the night sky of the northern hemisphere with the apparent movement of the stars as well as the position of the moon and its phases during the lunar cycle.
Produced under ref. 5102 until 2012, the Celestial is an exceptionally rare collector’s watch. Even rarer in its white gold version, which was only produced until 2008, it cost €177,120 to own (lot 283).
10. Ref. 5004, a great complication highly appreciated !
More than a watch, the Ref. 5004 is considered one of the most beautiful technical feats of modern watchmaking. The first chronograph equipped with a perpetual calendar with moon phases and split-seconds function produced by Patek Philippe, it is a grand complication that required several years of development.
Launched in 1996, only 200 pieces of this model were produced. Two exceptional pieces were presented at auction this month: one in white gold sold for €301,760 by Artcurial (lot 280), the other in platinum with diamond indexes went for €290,000 at Antiquorum (lot 69, sale of 19 January 2023).
These results confirm the dynamism of the collector’s market and the growing enthusiasm of amateurs and collectors for exceptional watches and grand complications.
