Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is thrilled to welcome you to The Geneva Sessions, Spring 2025, online auction, running from 12:00 PM CET, Wednesday, 5 March, to 2:00 PM CET, Wednesday, 12 March. Featuring 70 different high-end luxury wristwatches, the sale covers everything from A. Lange & Söhne and F.P. Journe to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe, including all the watches featured below.
– By Logan Baker
In recent years, the world of watchmaking has witnessed a surge in high-quality yet accessible timepieces, driven by independent brands redefining the notion of affordability without compromising craftsmanship. This boom has brought forth a wave of innovation, where meticulous design, rare complications, and artisanal finishing are no longer reserved for ultra-luxury timepieces.
Brands like S.U.F. Helsinki, Habring², Gröne, Louis Erard, and Alain Silberstein exemplify this movement, offering collectors thoughtfully engineered watches that balance artistic expression and mechanical excellence. From the playful yet refined Moomin Diver and the precision of Habring²’s Jumping Second Pilot to the architectural brilliance of the Gröne Manueel One, each timepiece showcases a unique perspective on modern horology.
Meanwhile, collaborations such as Louis Erard x Cédric Johner’s Le Régulateur and the imaginative Time Eater by Louis Erard and Konstantin Chaykin push creative boundaries while remaining within reach of a broader audience. This democratization of fine watchmaking marks an exciting new chapter, where craftsmanship and originality are no longer defined by price alone.
Lot 10: A 2025 Gröne by Grönefeld
Gröne is a newly established brand launched at the end of 2024 by the Grönefeld brothers as a more accessible alternative to their renowned eponymous brand.
The Manueel One is their debut release, featuring a case and crown design heavily inspired by the Remontoire 1941 and Principia. The dial is nothing short of breathtaking, with a silver hour track beautifully contrasting against a hammered salmon center. On the caseback, an engraving of Oldenzaal — the brothers' hometown — is accompanied by the Dutch proverb, “Zoals het klokje thuis tikt, tikt het nergens,” which translates to “There’s no place like home.”
This particular watch is in unworn condition, complete with its full set of accessories. It is also the first example to appear at auction.
Lot 7: A 2024 Louis Erard x Cédric Johner Le Régulateur
The Le Régulateur Louis Erard x Cédric Johner is a striking example of contemporary watchmaking, seamlessly blending artistry and precision in a limited edition of 178 pieces. This collaboration between Louis Erard and jeweler-watchmaker Cédric Johner elevates craftsmanship, with Johner personally hand-decorating the oscillating weight of each movement. The result is a timepiece that is as much a work of art as it is a functional watch.
Housed in a polished stainless steel case — strongly influenced by Johner’s avant-garde case design — the watch boasts a refined 39mm diameter, offering both sophistication and versatility. Its domed sapphire crystal, treated with an anti-reflective coating on both sides, ensures exceptional clarity and durability.
The dial is where this timepiece truly stands out. Featuring a mauve PVD base with a radiant sunray pattern, it exudes a modern yet elegant aesthetic. The regulator-style display adds a technical yet distinctive charm, with separate indications for hours, minutes, and seconds. This particular example remains in "like new" condition, having only left the boutique in late 2024.
Lot 57: A Circa 2022 Ming 17.09 with Blue Dial
The Ming 17.09 represents the brand’s first use of laser-etched indices on the underside of the top crystal, filled with Super-LumiNova X1 to create a striking glow.
Released in the spring of 2021, this model was available in highly polished stainless steel with two dial color variations — Burgundy and Blue, as seen in the present example. Both versions feature a two-piece dial construction, combining a Clous de Paris guilloché center with an external circular brushed chapter ring. This design adds depth and a dynamic play of light, enhancing its visual appeal.
At its heart beats the Schwarz-Etienne modified caliber 330.M1, made exclusively for MING. With an independently adjustable hour hand, the movement is ideal for collectors who frequently travel across time zones.
Offered without reserve and preserved in excellent overall condition, this Ming 17.09 Blue comes complete with its full set of accessories — a remarkable opportunity to acquire a distinctive and captivating timepiece.
Lot 43: A 2024 S.U.F Helsinki by Sarpaneva Moomin Diver
Released in 2024, the Moomin Diver by S.U.F. Helsinki offers a more accessible alternative to the highly coveted Sarpaneva Moomin watch series. As the more affordable sub-brand of Sarpaneva, S.U.F. Helsinki delivers exceptional craftsmanship with a playful twist, making this timepiece a compelling value proposition.
The new diver’s watch features a steel dial that showcases an illustration from Moomin and the Comet, one of many beloved Moomin books by Finnish author Tove Jansson. The design is laser-engraved and meticulously finished by hand, with multiple distinct sections revealing luminous details. The intricate scene includes bubbles, seaweed, and fish, while the steel chapter ring adds an additional layer, enhancing the watch’s three-dimensional depth.
Available in two versions, the Moomin Diver comes in a monochromatic grey or a striking variant with blue hands and a matching chapter ring.
Lot 33: A Circa 2019 Habring² Jumping Second Pilot in Stainless Steel
Habring² is the brainchild of husband-and-wife watchmaking duo Richard and Maria Habring, multiple-time winners of the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). After honing their craft with various brands, they founded their Austrian workshop in 2004, focusing on timepieces that combine rare complications with exceptional functionality — all while remaining accessible in price.
This Pilot model is powered by an in-house movement developed by the Habring team, featuring a mesmerizing deadbeat seconds complication. Originally introduced in the mid-17th century but rarely seen in wristwatches until the mid-20th century, this ingenious mechanism ensures the second hand advances in precise one-second increments. While the escapement continues to beat, the hand remains motionless until a full second has passed, creating a striking display of mechanical precision.
This particular example features a matte black dial with applied Breguet numerals at key positions and a polished stainless-steel case. While most known Jumping Second Pilot models feature large, lume-filled Arabic numerals on the outer scale, this version is distinguished by applied markers at five-minute intervals and Breguet numerals at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock on the inner dial. According to research, this dial configuration was fitted on earlier generation models.
Lot 20: A Circa 1995 Alain Silberstein Krono Medio Saphi
This chronograph exemplifies Alain Silberstein’s distinctive design philosophy, characterized by his bold use of primary colors and geometric shapes. Introduced in 1997, the Krono Medio Saphir was the first watch ever encased entirely in sapphire crystal. While sapphire is now a staple in watchmaking, this innovation was groundbreaking and highly unconventional at the time — making its debut 27 years ago.
Originally intended as a limited series of 50 pieces, production was ultimately curtailed due to the high manufacturing costs, leading to speculation that fewer than the planned number were ever released. The Krono Medio Saphir was produced in two variations: a larger version powered by a Valjoux movement and a smaller edition housing the Frédéric Piguet Caliber 1185, a sophisticated column-wheel chronograph with a vertical clutch — such as the present example. Silberstein further customized the movement with a frosted finish and striking blue, red, and gold components.
Numbered 12 of the intended 50-piece limited edition, this watch is a rare blend of playfulness and historical significance.
Lot 9: A Pair of 2023 Louis Erard x Konstantin Chaykin Time Eaters
Born from a collaboration between Louis Erard and one of the most inventive contemporary independent watchmakers, Konstantin Chaykin, the Time Eater is a bold and captivating creation. This pair of watches draws inspiration from Chaykin’s Wristmons series, particularly his iconic Joker watch, which featured expressive “eyes” made of white discs with dot markers for the time indication. Using Louis Erard’s signature régulateur layout, Chaykin crafted a dial resembling a cyclops, inspired by Likho, a one-eyed figure from Slavic folklore. Limited to 178 pieces in a 42mm case with a green rehaut and 178 pieces in a 39mm case with a purple rehaut, the Time Eater is both whimsical and technically intriguing.
The hours are displayed via a rotating disc resembling an eye, while the seconds at six o’clock take the form of a jagged-toothed disc, spinning like the gaping mouth of an ogre. Meanwhile, the central minutes hand is cleverly designed to resemble the monster’s hand, adding to the watch’s playful yet eerie character.
Preserved in virtually unworn condition, this matching Time Eater set is a rare find on the market. Given that the limited edition sold out within minutes of its official launch, this presents a unique opportunity for collectors to acquire a highly sought-after pair.
You can view the complete catalog for the Phillips Geneva Sessions, Spring 2025, Online Auction, right 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.
Recommended Reading
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The Endless Allure of Blue Dials in Watchmaking
A Tale of Two Chimes: The Chopard L.U.C Strike One vs. Girard-Perregaux Ref. 99500