The New York Watch Auction: SEVEN Realizes $21.1 Million, Concluding a Two-Year Streak of 100%-Sold Sales, A First for Any Auction House in History,   Continuing Phillips’ Market Leadership Once Again in the Americas

 

 

NEW YORK – 11 DECEMBER 2022 – Phillips is proud to announce that The New York Watch Auction: SEVEN realized $21.1 million, selling 100% by lot and 100% by value, bringing the annual total for Phillips’ New York watch auctions to $51.5 million, a world record for the Americas, continuing the house’s market leadership. The auction marks two consecutive years of 100%-sold sales for Phillips Watches – a first for any auction house in history.

 

Paul Boutros, Head of Watches, Americas, and Isabella Proia, Head of Sale, New York, jointly said, “The results from The New York Watch Auction: SEVEN reaffirm the strength of the market across all levels, with collectors vying for timepieces that spanned the true breadth of the category. The sale saw strong international participation, with collectors from across six continents bidding in the sale, and we were fortunate to welcome so many from our global community through our doors at 432 Park Avenue to raise their paddles in person.  Leading the auction were timepieces by F.P.Journe, George Daniels, and Patek Philippe. The chapter of the sale dedicated to Grand Seiko – the first of its kind – saw tremendous enthusiasm, most especially for the Kodo Constant Force Tourbillon, and we were honored to have been entrusted with the sale of TimeForArt, which drew in interest from all corners of the collecting community in support of the important missions of Swiss Institute. This carefully curated auction demonstrated the uninterrupted global appeal of rare, hand-selected watches that are considered an asset class.”

 

Timepieces by F.P.Journe performed exceptionally well across the board, with the Tourbillon Souverain in platinum with pink gold dial leading the auction at $1.24 million, more-than-quadrupling its estimate, tying the world record for the model. Scholarship indicates only six handmade pink gold dials are known, and this extremely early and rare example with remontoir d’egalité is numbered 038, dating from 1999.

 

The New York Watch Auction: SEVEN also offered ten exceptional lots spanning vintage and modern watches from the highly respected Japanese luxury brand Grand Seiko. A unique, one-of-one Kodo Constant Force Tourbillon – the brand’s very first mechanical complication – led the group at $478,800, a world record price for any Grand Seiko watch. At its heart is a uniquely innovative movement that delivers a level of stable accuracy unprecedented for Grand Seiko by combining a tourbillon and a constant-force mechanism as one unit on a single axis for the first time in history.

 

Phillips is proud to announce that the inaugural edition of TimeForArt saw tremendous enthusiasm, raising $1.2 million for Swiss Institute. In this first-ever watch auction to benefit contemporary art, seventeen watches were sold, all of which were either unique collaborations with world-renowned artisans, collaborations by leading contemporary artists, bespoke examples of innovative craftsmanship, or coveted limited-edition timepieces. Leading the group was Urwerk’s unique UR-102.02 “TimeForArt,” which soared to over ten times its estimate, setting a new world record for any Urwerk wristwatch.