The next highest sum went to Richard Mille’s Tourbillon Prototype Yohan Blake, the watch worn by Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake during the 2012 London Olympic Games, in which he won three medals. The watch is based on Richard Mille’s RM038 Tourbillon (the watch worn by professional golfer Bubba Watson) and features the colors of the Jamaican flag. The watch did not meet its very high estimate of 450,000 – 500,000 euros, but still sold at a respectable 350,000 euros.
A relative newcomer to the luxury watch world, Laurent Ferrier copped the third highest price (130,000 euros) with its Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spirale. The watch’s movement incorporates two head-to-tail mounted balance springs in the center of the balance, a system developed to maintain the center of the balance firmly on its axis while also compensating for the effect of gravity. It has a steel, pebble-shaped case (“galet” is French for “pebble”), a ball-shaped crown, and a sand-toned grand feu enamel dial, mounted on an 18k gold plate, with a tone-on-tone silhouette of a dove and a depiction of the Monaco coat of arms.
Two watches earned 120,000 euros, Breguet’s Classique Chronographe 5284 (which met its estimate of 100,000 – 120,000 euros) and DeWitt’s Twenty-8 Eight Skeleton Tourbillon (which fell short of its estimated 250,000 – 300,000 range). The Breguet Classique Chronograph Openworked 5284 (below) has a yellow-gold case with fine fluting on the caseband that echoes that of historic timepieces made by Abraham-Louis Breguet. The watch’s open-tipped hour and minute hands were first designed by Breguet in 1873, and its movement is Caliber 533.2 SQ, a skeletonized, column-wheel chronograph movement based on a 1940s version.
The DeWitt Twenty-8-Eight High Jewelry Skeleton Tourbillon (below) features a skeletonized tourbillon movement, Caliber DW8028s, made in-house by DeWitt. Its 43-mm white gold case is set with 36 baguette-cut diamonds and 104 brilliant-cut diamonds and features the DeWitt collection’s “imperial columns” motif on the flanks.
The remaining watches that garnered six-figure sales prices were Hublot’s Classic Fusion Skeleton Tourbillon, Christophe Claret’s X-Trem 1 Pinball watch, and Vacheron Constantin’s Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time, all of which went for 100,000 euros.
This year’s Only Watch, which took place during the Monaco Yacht Show, was the most successful Only Watch auction ever, featuring 33 unique timepieces from Backes & Strauss, Bell & Ross, Blancpain, Breguet, Chanel, Chopard, Chronoswiss, Christophe Claret, Corum, Cyrus, deLaCour, De Bethune, DeWitt, Frédérique Constant, Girard Perregaux, Harry Winston, Hublot, Ikepod, Jaquet Droz, Julien Coudray, Laurent Ferrier, Louis Vuitton, Maurice Lacroix, Montblanc, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, Armin Strom, Ulysse Nardin, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Zenith.
“It was an honor for Antiquorum to once again support the Only Watch auction benefiting research for Duchenne muscular dystrophy,” said Julien Schaerer, Managing Director Antiquorum Geneva. “We would like to thank all participants for making the fifth edition of Only Watch such a resounding success and helping to spread awareness of this debilitating disease across the globe.”
Luc Pettavino, president of the Monegasque Association Against Muscular Dystrophy and founder of Only Watch, added, “Only Watch is a very special project that implies an incredible cooperation based on free will and contributions made with a benevolent state of mind. It’s all about a group of people united for research on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, united to give hope, and the exceptional 5 million euro realized for Only Watch 2013 is a group effort of all the generous participants involved.”