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Only Watch 2011: The Results

written by A.Morgan - 26th Sep 2011

Set in the tiny and exotic Principality of Monaco, the Only Watch auction brings forty watch manufacturers together to each produce a single, unique watch that is auctioned off, the proceeds of which helping fight Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The auction itself is held in the luxurious Hotel Hermitage, where the world’s elite gather to secure these exclusive watches, including the Rolling Stone’s Ronnie Wood.

There is a definite excitement in the room as it begins to fill. The hum of chatter increases exponentially as people file in, and soon all the seats are filled and there is barely enough standing room left. The auctioneer introduces the event and soon the auction gets underway at a brisk pace, with the first lot, the Audemars Piguet ‘Jules Audemars’ landing a cool €38,000 straight off.

The hammer bangs down again and again as each watch reaches its peak, with bursts of chatter and applause rising when bids climb to the higher end of the expected wish prices. The bids themselves are coming in via telephone and the internet as well as from the room, so the prices rise rapidly, and soon the auction reaches lot 30; the Patek Philippe Ref. 3939. The room hums with excitement as the image of the watch comes on screen, and the auctioneer waits for all the interested parties to get themselves ready. With the upper end of the wish price at €650,000, everybody needs to be on their toes.

Bidding starts high, and with bids going up in €50,000 increments, it soon smashes through the €650,000 estimate. The excitement in the room is palpable as the bids carry on soaring, hundreds of pairs of eyes watching as each bidder carefully contemplate the balance between getting what they want and paying what they want, and in a matter of minutes the price is closing in on one million.

The bidding begins to stall, and the auctioneer jeers the bidders into reigniting the frenzy. The audience call and shout, and before long another bid is eeked out. Another bid comes in, and then another; the total stands at €950,000. The room falls quiet, and an electricity in the atmosphere tingles through the crowd as they wait with baited breath for the bid that tips it over the edge of a million.

When it comes, the room erupts into a cacophony of cheering and whooping, and people shake their heads in disbelief and exchange stunned glances. But the auction isn’t over yet. It continues to climb all the way to €1.4 million, and when the hammer falls, the crowd cheers for what seems like an eternity. The next ten watches follow, and as quickly as it began, the auction is over, having raised a total of €4,563,000, a fantastic amount that will go towards making the lives of many children a lot better.

HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco discusses the Patek Philippe with Only Watch founder Luc Pettavino, which later goes on to sell for a whopping €1,400,000

Watches Sold
Lot 1 – Audemars Piguet ‘Jules Audemars’ – Sold €38,000
Lot 2 – Bell & Ross ‘BR01 Casino’ – Sold €18,000
Lot 3 – Blancpain ‘Villeret’ – Sold €42,000
Lot 4 – BLU ‘Gagarin Flying Tourbillon’ – Sold €300,000
Lot 5 – Bovet ‘Amadeo Dragon & Phoenix’ – Sold €70,000
Lot 6 – Breguet ‘Grande Comlication’ – Sold €120,000
Lot 7 – Celsius X VI II ‘Piece Unique’ – Sold €75,000
Lot 8 – Chanel ‘J12 Marine’ – Sold €21,000
Lot 9 – Chaumet ‘Dandy Arty’ – Sold €4,500
Lot 10 – Chopard ‘L.U.C Engine One Tourbillon’ – Sold €35,000
Lot 11 – Corum ‘Golden Bridge’ – Sold €50,000
Lot 12 – CYRUS ‘KLEPCYS’ – Sold €62,000
Lot 13 – De Bethune ‘DB25’ – Sold €80,000
Lot 14 – deLaCour ‘Mourinho City Ego’ – Sold €8,000
Lot 15 – DeWitt ‘X-Watch’ – Sold €410,000
Lot 16 – Franck Muller ‘Crazy Hours Totally Switzerland’ – Sold €44,000
Lot 17 – Set of four Frederique Constant watches – Sold €22,000
Lot 18 – Girard-Perregaux ‘WW.TC’ – Sold €29,000
Lot 19 – Glashütte Original ‘Senator Chronometer’ – Sold €37,000
Lot 20 – Harry Winston ‘Midnight GMT Tourbillon’ – Sold €160,000
Lot 21 – Hermès ‘Arceau Le Temps Suspendu’ – Sold €27,000
Lot 22 – Hublot ‘Oceanographic 4000’ – Sold €33,000
Lot 23 – IKEPOD ‘Hourglass’ – Sold €23,000
Lot 24 – Jaquet Droz ‘Petite Heure Minute’ – Sold €32,000
Lot 25 – Laurent Ferrier ‘Prototype’ – Sold €41,000
Lot 26 – Louis Vuitton ‘Tambour’ – Sold €35,000
Lot 27 – Maurice Lacroix ‘Masterpiece’ – Sold €11,000
Lot 28 – MB&F ‘HM4 Flying Panda’ – Sold €170,000
Lot 29 – Montblanc ‘Collection Villeret 1858’ – Sold €30,000
Lot 30 – Patek Philippe ‘Ref. 3939’ – Sold €1,400,000
Lot 31 – Piaget ‘Altiplano’ – Sold €54,000
Lot 32 – Richard Mille ‘RM 027’ – Sold €510,000
Lot 33 – Romain Jerome ‘Rock the Rock DNA’ – Sold €11,000
Lot 34 – TAG Heuer ‘Monaco Mikrograph’ – Sold €44,000
Lot 35 – Ulysse Nardin ‘Freak Diavolo’ – Sold €125,000
Lot 36 – Urwerk ‘UR-103 Phoenix’ – Sold €55,000
Lot 37 – Vacheron Constantin ‘Metiers d’Art’ – Sold €90,000
Lot 38 – Van Cleef & Arpels ‘Poetic Complication’ – Sold €215,000
Lot 39 – Vulcain ‘Skeleton Cricket’ – Sold €11,500
Lot 40 – Set of two Zenith watches – Sold €20,000

Some of our favourite watches of the auction include the Bell & Ross BR01 Casino, the Richard Mille RM 027 prototype and the MB&F HM4 Flying Panda