This year more than sixty watchmakers have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which begins Sunday, November 5, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible one-of-a-kind watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these impressive designs again just ahead of the event.
The watches are currently touring the globe. After a visit to Los Angeles last week and New York until September 17, the tour will visit Monaco next, followed by stops in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai and back in Geneva. See the Only Watch website for tour dates and details.
We continue our series by highlighting the F. P. Journe entry, called Chronometre Furtif Bleu, a time-only watch that features an unusual blue enamel dial within a complete tantalum case and bracelet.
The Chronomètre Furtif is so-named in reference to the difficulty of reading the time if the watch is not facing you. Unusually, the blue enamel dial reveals the frosted numerals only in the reflection of light.
In addition, the moon phase and power reserve indications are integrated into the movement and visible only on the back. The idea here to make a watch with indications primarily enjoyed only by its owner.
At the heart of this watch is a new hand-wound mechanical movement, Calibre 1522 in 18-karat rose gold with direct central seconds, a first for F.P.Journe.
Independent watchmaking pioneer F.P.Journe has moved his New York boutique from Manhattan’s Upper East Side to 53 Mercer Street in SoHo.
The new space showcases Journe’s watches in sleek display cases amid small lounges, a bar and a library filled with books on watchmaking.
At the center of the space is a large chandelier created by Mexican-Brazilian artist Carolina Fontoura Alzaga, similar to those in Journe’s boutiques in Los Angeles and Miami.
Upstairs, the new store offers a kitchen, a wine cellar and a large room where the watchmaker plans to host dinners and receptions.
The space’s architects were careful to retain some of the building’s original red brick walls in order to recall the industrial history of the SoHo district.
Details: Maison F.P.Journe New York,53 Mercer Street, NY, NY 10013, New York.
Zurich-based Ineichen Auctioneers will focus on collectible watches made of rose gold for “La Vie en Rose,” its March 12 auction. More than fifty watches will be on offer, with pieces from Vacheron Constantin, F.P. Journe, Daniel Roth, Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Audemars Piguet among the auction headliners.
Three pieces in particular are likely to stir the most collector interest: F. P. Journe’s Chronomètre à Résonance Sincere Limited-Edition No. 202-RN and Octa Calendrier Sincere Limited Edition No. 239-Q, and a Vacheron Constantin Malte Openworked Tourbillon.
F. P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance Sincere Limited Edition No. 202-RN
A limited-edition watch first purchased in 2006, this model features a 40mm by 9.1mm case in rose gold, a black mother-of-pearl dial and silver subdials patterned with Clous de Paris guilloché. It is powered by a thin manual-wound caliber 1499.2 with mainplate and bridges in solid 18-karat rose gold, and twin independent movement coupled with an aerodynamic resonance system. The watch is one of the rarest models in the Chronomètre à Résonance line as only ten pieces were produced.
F. P. Journe Octa Calendrier Sincere Limited Edition No. 239-Q
Also limited to ten pieces, this 2006 model’s rose gold case measures 38mm by 10.6mm. It features a black mother-of-pearl dial with silver subdial decoration in Clous de Paris guilloché, and is one of very few timepieces to include an annual calendar complication, automatic winding and five-day power reserve. Its annual calendar function indicates the date via the large central hand and advances automatically for months with 29, 30 and 31 days.
Soon after its launch, the Octa Calendrier won the Special Jury Award at the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2002.
With a rose gold case measuring 36mm x 36mm x 11.80mm, this watch was produced from 2000 to 2011 and features traditional skeletonization with ‘baroque lines’ and a hand-engraved “peacock tail” decorative pattern with meticulous finishing. Another feature is the caliber 1790SQ, which is one of the best traditionally skeletonized tourbillon movements and also Vacheron Constantin’s first in-house tourbillon movement.
In addition to this trio of headliners, these watches from Girard-Perregaux, Cartier and Daniel Roth will likely draw attention from many collectors.
Girard-Perregaux ww.tc Tourbillon Hours of the World
Girard-Perregaux ww.tc Tourbillon Hours of the World
(Estimate: CHF 30,000-40,000)
This piece features the famed Girard-Perregaux three gold bridges, but here they’re visible through the back of the case, non via the dial side. This is meant to echo the design of the original pocket watch movement invented by Constant Girard in 1867 and patented in the US in 1884. This Reference 99350 is a very rare variation of the design with a rose gold case measures 43mm x 13.15mm, a light cream dial with a world-time complication. Only a few pieces were produced annually from 2005 to 2010.
This watch, one of the first timepieces from the Collection Privée Cartier Paris (CPCP) introduced by Cartier in 1998, is equipped with a rare hand-wound movement, caliber 045 MC, developed by THA Èbauche – a collaborative movement manufacture founded in 1996 by independent watchmakers Vianney Halter, Denis Flageollet and François-Paul Journe.
This model features the caliber 045MC Mk2 version, which uses only monolithic steel springs (except for the fixing spring of the minute counter). There is no additional bridge. Purchased in 2004, the case of this piece is 18-karat rose gold, measuring 43mm x 34mm (with lugs) x 10mm.
Collectors can register pre-bids and participate in the auction live via the Ineichen Auctioneers website. Bids can also be made online at invaluable.com;liveactionauction.com or by phone via +41 44 298 11 44.
This year more than fifty watchmakers have created timepieces for the Only Watch charity auction, which commences Saturday, November 6, in Geneva. Christie’s will auction these incredible watches to raise funds that benefit research in the battle against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
While you may have seen a few of the watches set for auction earlier this year when Only Watch announced them, we thought you’d enjoy seeing many of these inspired designed again just ahead of the event.
The watches will tour the globe starting September 22 in Monaco, and can then be seen in exhibitions in Dubai (September 30 to October 3), Tokyo (October 8 to 10), Singapore (October 15 to 20), Hong Kong (October 25 to 27), Macau (October 28) and finally back in Geneva on November 4-6. Click here for details about the Only Watch world tour.
Today, we highlight the offering from F.P. Journe. The independent watchmaker’s entry into the auction is a stunning central-dial automaton inspired by a mechanical hand created by Ambroise Paré (1509-1590), the father of modern surgery, this unusual 42mm tantalum-cased watch displays time via hand-signs. The hand will rotate to the hour marker (indicated by the pointer) and will show a specific number of fingers to indicate the hours. At 1 o’clock, for example, only one finger will appear while the others remain clenched (see below).
The automaton is powered solely by the Octa movement’s mainspring.
F.P. Journe devised the movement from his Octa Caliber 1300, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021.
Journe explains: “This watch was born in 2012 while having dinner at Francis Ford Coppola’s house in the Napa Valley. He asked me if it could be possible to tell time with a hand in a watch. I replied that the idea was interesting and required thinking about it. But how to display 12 hours with 5 fingers? It was not an easy matter and this complex challenge inspired and motivated me. Once I figured it out, Francis immediately sent the sketches for the fingers positions. After more than 2 years, I could finally focus on “Fecit”. After 7 years of development, I am proud to present the FFC prototype”.
We expect the final sale price for this watch to exceed its auction estimate.
