Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is thrilled to welcome you to The Geneva Sessions, Spring 2023, online auction, running from 10:00 AM CET, Thursday, March 9, to 4:00 PM CET, Thursday, March 16. Featuring more than 50 different high-end luxury wristwatches, the sale covers everything from F.P. Journe and Daniel Roth to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe.
Limited editions are the name of the game in high-end watchmaking these days. Some collectors love them, others ... not as much, but they're a fact of life in the current watch landscape. Typically, once a limited edition watch sells out, it disappears onto the wrists of their new owners and into their watch boxes. If you missed out, you were simply out of luck. But sometimes, those same watches find their way back to market.
A number of those limited edition watches – all interesting and desirable in their own rights – are included in the catalog of our Geneva Sessions, Spring 2023, online sale, which is now live. You can view the complete catalog right here, or read on for a few of our favorite limited-edition watches featured in the sale.
Lot 21: A. Lange & Söhne Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase
The “Lumen” series of watches from A. Lange & Söhne are some of the German maker’s most exclusive, featuring a semi-transparent sapphire dial and interior luminous accents. The smoky grey sapphire crystal allows ultraviolet rays to pass through to the luminous components on the movement and dial, allowing them to glow brightly when in darkness.
First released in 2016, the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase Lumen was a limited series of just 200 pieces in platinum. It was the first Lange watch to include a luminous moon-phase display and a luminous outsize date.
Estimate: CHF 40,000 - 80,000
Lot 4: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Scuba Edition
Audemars Piguet transforms its Royal Oak platform even further into legendary sport watch territory with Offshore deviations such as the present Scuba Edition. Part of a limited edition of 300 pieces from the late 2000s that was exclusively available via Audemars Piguet's brand boutique network, the stainless steel watch has a depth rating of up to 300 meters.
The watch is outfitted with Audemars Piguet’s signature Mega Tapisserie textured dial and large Arabic luminous hour markers. A black ceramic pusher at the 10 o’clock position controls the adjustment of the interior red aluminum timing bezel. The present example was originally purchased in May 2008 and is in overall excellent condition.
Estimate: CHF 10,000 - 20,000
Lot 36: Ulysse Nardin Freak X Carbonium Gold “The Hour Glass”
The Freak X is Ulysse Nardin's attempt at creating a more approachable version of its high-concept Freak collection. This example was originally released in 2019 in partnership with the notable Singapore-based retailer The Hour Glass. A 30-piece limited edition, the Freak X waves its characteristic flag high with a flying carrousel movement system that rotates on its own axis to indicate the passage of time. However, unlike previous generations of the Freak, the Freak X series has a traditional external crown at three o'clock and a smaller case diameter of 43mm.
One of the most interesting elements of this limited edition watch is its case material. The watch is made of carbonium, a unique lightweight material that's more commonly found in world of aviation, in the bodies and wings of aircraft. However, Ulysse Nardin didn't source just any carbonium here – in this edition, gold flakes were mixed with the carbon composite during the casemaking process, resulting in a unique two-tone striated design that looks and feels exceptionally organic.
Estimate: CHF 15,000 - 30,000
Lot 19: Bulgari Octo Finissimo Skeleton Power Reserve
Skeletonized watches can be hit or miss. Unless they're executed at the highest level, they can end up on the cheap or garish side. Thankfully, Bulgari doesn't have that problem with the Octo Finissimo. Just see the Octo Finissimo Skeleton Power Reserve. first released in 2018 as a limited edition of 200 pieces, before a production model debuted the following year. Compared to the standard time-only automatic Octo Finissimo, the openworked manual-wind variant has the added value of a power reserve indicator above the small seconds display, as well as an additional five hours of running autonomy.
The combination of hand winding with the open, visible movement architecture is extremely visually compelling, as it offers a full view of the barrel (located near one and two o'clock) and mainspring. Trust us, this watch is an absolute pleasure to hand wind. The total thickness of the case is only 5.5mm tall, so it maintains the tenets of the ultra-thin Octo Finissimo design, while offering benefit in other areas. Ultra-thin and extremely comfortable, the dark blue finishing on the outer minute and seconds track gives the timepiece a pleasant touch of color which elegantly contrasts against the darker ceramic color.
Estimate: CHF 10,000 - 20,000
Lot 10: Montblanc 1858 Rattrapante Limited Edition
Montblanc's 1858 series takes its name from the year the historic Minerva manufacture was founded in Villeret (as the H&C Robert Company) by watchmaker Charles-Yvan Robert and his brother. Minerva, of course, eventually became a part of Montblanc and the Richemont Group in the 2000s, and the 1858 series has become one of the company's flagships series, since its official 2018 debut. Chronographs being a historic specialty of Minerva, the movement inside the 1858 Split Second Chronograph is the manually wound MB M16.31 caliber, which is based on the 17.29 pocket watch movement originally developed in the 1930s by the Villeret watchmakers.
Minerva's contemporary watchmaking team built on the original 17.29 platform to add a rattrapante complication, through the addition of a secondary column wheel and hammer, as well as auxiliary levels and clamps. If you're at all familiar with Minerva movements, you'll immediately recognize the traditional V-shaped bridge (an element so characteristic of Minerva timepieces that it was actually patented in 1912), the signature arrowhead tip of the chronograph brake lever, and an extra-large balance wheel that leisurely ticks at 2.5 Hz; the overcoil hairspring is also produced in-house by Minerva in Villeret. The movement is notable for its large size (it was originally a pocket watch caliber, after all), which provides extra room to explore the intricate architecture and hand-finished decoration (which includes côtes de Genève, extensive perlage, and polished bevels in nearly every visible direction) with a loupe.
Introduced in 2020, this Montblanc 1858 Split Second Chronograph was produced in a limited series of 100 examples. Featuring a sporty-retro appearance, its design echos Minerva military chronographs of the 1920s and 1930s. Equipped with a tachometer scale in a spiral form in the center of the dial, the watch's wearer can measure times of up to three minutes, instead of only one when using a more traditional chronograph scale. The plus-sized movement ends up resulting in a substantial 44mm × 14.55mm case profile; however, the prominent dimensions are balanced by the use of grade-5 titanium for the case metal, which allows for lightweight wearability. Visually, the watch is finished with a solid-gold dial that's coated in grand feu enamel to achieve an electric shade of blue with contrasting orange elements on the sub-dials and seconds track. An eye-catching "snail" three-minute tachymeter scale and outer telemeter scale complete the complicated look.
Estimate: CHF 12,000 - 24,000
Lot 38: Gérald Genta Arena Bi-Retrograde With Football/Soccer Mickey Mouse
Gérald Genta was undoubtably ahead of his time. The Swiss designer more or less single-handedly spearheaded the entire genre of luxury sport watches, but he also understood the importance of pop culture. Under his eponymous brand, he was able to explore that side of himself via a series of mechanical watches featuring Disney characters on the dial – most famously, with Mickey Mouse.
Bulgari, now the steward of the Gérald Genta brand, decided to revisit this terrain in 2022 with a revival of the Arena Bi-Retrograde wristwatch featuring Mickey kicking a football/soccer ball. The result is fascinating, with a retrograde minute, retrograde date, and jumping hour displays. Limited to only 200 pieces, the dial that surrounds Mickey is crafted from beautiful natural mother of pearl.
Estimate: CHF 10,000 - 20,000
Lot 17: Girard-Perregaux Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition
A total of 306 examples of this Laureato Absolute Chronograph were produced in 2022 in partnership with the Aston Martin F1 team. While the textured green dial is eye-catching enough, the case is plenty fascinating as well, composed of a blend of titanium powder and carbon elements that were sourced from a pair of Formula One race cars that were actually used during the 2021 season – a first in the watch industry.
The dial of the watch is presented in the iconic "Aston Martin Racing Green" with a shimmering sunray finish and cross-hatching, giving the watch additional sporty appeal. The cross-hatched motif can be traced back to Aston Martin's "AM" badge of 1921, when the A and M were first intertwined. Finally, Girard-Perregaux outfitted the watch with the self-winding chronograph movement, the caliber GP03300.
Estimate: CHF 10,000 - 20,000
Lot 49: Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 8 Days Darren Romanelli Limited Edition
Here's a Reverso you probably haven't seen before.
Jaeger-LeCoultre called on the Los Angeles-based multihyphenate creative Darren Romanelli to develop his own Reverso in the early 2010s. The result was this watch, the Grande Reverso 8 Days Darren Romanelli Limited Edition, featuring an outer black enamel dial with guilloché finishing in the center and small seconds at 5 o'clock. The dial includes Romanelli's signature scissor motif in two separate places on the dial, as well as on the caseback. Only 50 examples were produced, and this one is number 18.
Estimate: CHF 2,000 - 4,000
You can learn more, place a bid, and view the entire Geneva Sessions, Spring 2023, catalog here.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch business. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
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