Five $1M+ USD Watches Sell at Phillips New York’s Spring Sale
The Top 5 included three pieces from F.P. Journe.
Five lots at auctioned at Phillips New York this weekend ending up hammering north of $1M USD.
The top lot – a platinum George Daniels Anniversary timepiece from 2019 – went for $2,389,500 USD, becoming the most expensive British wristwatch to sell at auction.
Bearing the serial number “00” – making it the first of 47 produced and one of only four platinum examples – the date and power reserve watch was sold with a “portion of the the proceeds” going to The George Daniels Educational Trust, The Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers and the Horological Society of New York.
A Rolex Daytona Paul Newman Lemon Ref. 6264 took the second spot, selling for $2,087,000 USD, setting a record for the reference. The “fresh-to-market, exceptionally well-preserved” yellow gold example from 1969 was offered by the family of the original owner.
The remaining three watches from the Top Five were all from F.P. Journe; including a “unique and historically important” F. P. Journe platinum Chronomètre Souverain wristwatch gifted to George Daniels by François-Paul Journe himself, which sold for a reference record $1,482,000 USD, a Tourbillon Souverain with jade dial sold for $1,240,000 USD and a Tourbillon Souverain No. 035/99T sold for $1,361,000 USD.
The auction achieved a total of £30.3M USD in sales and also saw records set for British watchmaker Roger Smith ($840,700 USD for a 2017 Series 2 Open Dial) and reference records for Rolex’s Daytona Rainbow ($693,000 USD) and A. Lange & Söhne’s Lange 1 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst ($529,200 USD).
Elsewhere in watches, UNDEFEATED teases forthcoming haute horology limited edition.
