Christie’s Brings Masterpieces of Watchmaking to Geneva

Starting on Saturday, November 8th, the four largest auction houses will occupy local luxury hotels to offer more than 1,000 luxury watches. Christie’s is holding its live auction at Four Seasons des Bergues on Monday, November 10th, and will follow it up with a digital auction from November 12th to 19th. A curated selection of watches from Rolex, Patek Philippe, F.P.Journe, Cartier, and independent brands will thereby be made available to a wider global audience.

The most exclusive item in the live auction is the RM018 wristwatch, which watchmaker Richard Mille released in 2008 in collaboration with Boucheron to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this Parisian jeweler. Production was limited to just 30 pieces, which were released onto the market in batches of five per year. “This model was the first to feature a unique breakthrough technique, where gemstones normally used for ornamentation are an integral part of the watch’s mechanics,” says Christie’s chief watch specialist Mathieu Ruffat. The sale estimate ranges between CHF 600,000 and CHF 1,200,000.

What are the main trends that current collectors are following according to Ruffat? According to him, massive, extravagant mechanical models from the 1990s are in high demand, and there is also growing interest in asymmetrical shapes and limited editions with dials decorated with animated film heroes. A model from Audemars Piguet from a limited series created together with Marvel, featuring a hand-painted 3D Black Panther figure in white gold, sold for HK$1,764,000 at an auction in Hong Kong in May. Dials decorated with precious stones are also popular, as are watches with all-metal cases, where the hands are replaced by a timepiece with two small windows.