BREAKING NEWS: The five biggest watches of Only Watch 2015
Felix ScholzA few hours ago the final hammer came down on the Phillips Watches Only Watch auction. And once the dust had settled it quickly became clear that this was a monster of an auction. The conservative pre-auction estimate had the 44 lots pulling in a total 3.3 million Swiss francs. Safe to say that estimate was well and truly smashed, with the auction raising 11.2 million Swiss francs for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Here are the five watches that pulled in the biggest numbers.
Update: Find out the final price realised for every piece in the Only Watch 2015 auction here.
Patek Philippe ref 5016A-010
Are you sitting down? This unique Patek was always going to be the biggest watch of the auction, but we didn’t anticipate just how big. Nine minutes after bidding started this became the most expensive wristwatch ever sold – coming in at 7.3 million Swiss francs, well over half the total sum raised for the entire auction.
Richard Mille RM 27-02
Rafa has a lot of fans, and some of them have deep pockets. The prototype RM 27-02 that Nadal wore during Rolland Garros, Wimbledon and the US open hammered in at 650,000 francs.
FP Journe Tourbillon Souverain Bleu
Journe is continuing his history of strong auction results, with his tantalum cased tourbillon bringing in 550,000 francs.
Tudor Heritage Black Bay One
Everyone expected the Patek to make a lot of money, but the other hype watch of the fair was Tudor’s Black Bay One, a unique take on the Black Bay. In the days before the auction there was a lot of wild talk about Tudor’s first ever one-off pulling in six figures. Well, turns out the talk wasn’t wild enough – it sold for an astonishing 375,000 francs.
Voutilainen GMT-6
It’s been a good few weeks for Kari Voutilainen. He just won the GPHG award for best men’s watch and now his steel cased, enamel dialled GMT-6 made 145,000 francs for charity.