While this has been a low-key summer on the collector’s watch market, this autumn we are once again seeing some really fine pieces emerging from their safes. One of the world’s major watch collectors, based in Europe, has set the tone for the new season by entrusting Christie’s with ten Patek Philippe watches that had not seen the light of day for years. Within the elite circle of top collectors, the news has spread like wildfire and generated even more interest in what looks set to be a truly promising auction. Aurel Bacs, who heads Christie’s watch department, has assembled 380 lots of which 90% are from various personal collections, and he has an endless supply of stories about many of them. Total estimated prices amount to around 15 million Swiss francs and buyers in search of rare pieces are champing at the bit. Paradoxically, there are more of them than there are buyers, who have in recent times preferred to keep their miniature mechanical treasures rather than see them go under the hammer at prices that might prove unsatisfactory. Most of them are preparing to part with only a small part of their collection, and doubtless not enough to satisfy the appetite of buyers in search of exceptional models and who have had little to get their teeth into over the past few months.

Essential diversity
This eagerly awaited auction is set to make a considerable impact, while also offering opportunities for apprentice collectors as well as bargainhunters. Aurel Bacs intends to make a big splash by offering around fifty watches with no reserve price, including some Rolex Dayjust and Explorer models, along with others by Blancpain, IWC and Omega. While all are worth several thousand francs, these timepieces in excellent conditions might therefore go for a few hundred francs if nobody ups the bidding. A sure-fire recipe for auction thrills! Among the recent collector’s watches on offer, Aurel Bacs is delighted to be offering a family of 9 Lange & Söhne watches, each stemming from a limited series (Huber, Wempe, Tourbilllon pour le Mérite, etc.) as well as half a dozen first-generation F.P. Journe watches with copper-plated mainplate and a pewter movement such as are no longer made these days. Other noteworthy models up for sale include an Audemars Piguet grand complication watch and two stunning design Cartier An extremely fine and rare 18K pink gold rectangular twin barrel 8-days wristwatch, manufactured in 1941 Estimate: SFr. 80'000-120'000 tribute-pieces by Vianney Halter, as well as a Twins by Michel Jordi – all of which contribute to highlight the impressive diversity of this must-see event.

The auction classics include a range of ultrathin Art Deco pocket-watches, and a series of 1940s chronographs, many of them by Omega. A rose gold Cartier Tank watch produced in the same period and equipped with an eight-day power-reserve movement, looks every bit as new as if it has just emerged from the company workshops. Another lot bearing the Breguet signature but outside the watchmaking field is a mid-20th century gold cigarette box with a singing bird that is in excellent conditions and will delight those on the lookout for rare items. Meanwhile, for fans of the asymmetrical shapes typical of the 1970s, including Aurel Bacs himself, the watch expert is also drawing attention to Piaget cuff-watches from the Esclave series, available in several variations and likely to prove extremely affordable.

Patek Connection
A visionary who has been collecting Patek Philippe watches since the 1960s in the course of his constant worldwide travels (there was no literature, museum or internet at the time to get documentation on such pieces), the famous European seller has consistently perfected his collection of complications, to the point of publishing a first book dedicated to a private collection, in 1991. Drawn from this genuine treasure trove, the ten Patek Philippe watches are estimated at around 4 million Swiss francs and are all different, ranging from the 1950s Calatrava Travel Time to the Reference 3450 Perpetual Calendar model with sapphire crystal (made to order), as well as an ultra-rare chronograph. The flagship lot is a one-of-kind creation: the only known reference 1526 in the world equipped with an indirect seconds movement. The last time this perpetual calendar with central seconds hand appeared at auction goes back to the auction commemorating Patek Philippe’s 150th anniversary in 1989. Other Patek Philippe watches from other collectors include a 1920s jumping hour watch of which only two or three are known worldwide; a watch specially ordered from Turin in the 1960s and never worn, not to mention a chronograph accompanied by an invoice dated 1946 and ddressed to the SIP in Geneva, a company located just opposite the site of the famous Patek Philippe Museum that has been built there since.

Rolex in the spotlight
Another legendary model on offer is the Rolex Stéline reference 6062, endowed with three assets that make it virtually unique and doubtless the most important Rolex ever put up for auction: it is in red gold, it features star-shaped hour-markers, and it is in pristine condition. While its estimated price is already fairly high at CHF 350,000, it will probably exceed this sum. Rolex fans are also liable to be interested in the very first customised watch accepted for auction by Christie’s. This exception to the general rule is justified by the good cause it is defending: namely the preservation of the archives of oceanographer Jacques Piccard. By special agreement with his son Bertrand Piccard, an individual collector has customised a strictly limited edition of 86 Rolex watches in memory of the famous scientist who invented the mesoscaph, endowing them with a blackened case, red Deep Sea dial colour and an engraved case-back. The last piece in this limited series is thus being auctioned by Christie’s in a lot also composed of two books published and dedicated by Jacques Piccard, an autograph and above all a letter that travelled with him to a depth of 10,000 metres in his two bathyscaphs and bearing the stamp of the local post office. One can safely bet that its price is liable to reach stratospheric proportions.