At a brainstorming session in early January, the watch department at Phillips auction house zeroed in on what it said would be the first such auction of its kind: the vintage stainless steel chronograph.
Called “Start — Stop — Reset,” the May 14 auction at La Reserve hotel in Geneva will have 88 lots in a range of prices with an estimated value of as much as $10 million.
“In a nutshell, it’s an auction that’s never been done before,” said Aurel Bacs, the firm’s chief consultant. “We have secured the world’s most beautiful and epic chronographs ever made.”
Among the watches Phillips plans to present:
Rolex ref. 6239: With a silvered dial and tachometer bezel, the 1967 Daytona Cosmograph is one of fewer than 10 Rolex models designed with a doctor’s pulsation scale. It is known to connoisseurs as the “The Doctor,” and Phillips says only a few still exist. Guide price: 350,000 to 700,000 Swiss francs, or about $351,000 to $703,000.
Patek Philippe ref. 1463: The timepiece, first sold in 1955 by the Uruguay retailer Freccero, has a two-tone silvered dial, applied Arabic and baton hour markers and an outer tachometer scale. Phillips said it knows of no other existing model with this dial design and the retailer’s signature. Guide price: 350,000 to 550,000 francs.
Rolex ref. 3330: The 1942 piece features a salmon-colored dial, tachometer and telemeter scales and a large diameter circular design. Phillips says it is one of fewer than 10 that still exist. Guide price: 200,000 to 400,000 francs.
“Within the landscape of collecting, the chronograph is most likely the most popular complication across the board,” Mr Bacs said.
“In the 1920s and ’30s, a chronograph would have been used by a real guy out there who had a task, a mission,” he continued. “There’s a flavor to these watches that today’s chronographs can’t transmit — a spirit of entrepreneurship going on that’s fascinating to collectors.”
Phillips said the auction coincides with the chronograph’s 200th anniversary. The French horologist Louis Moinet invented the device in 1816 to track astronomical objects and, for its name, combined the Greek words for time and writing.
As for assembling the lineup, Mr. Bacs said he had contacted 20 collectors to spread the word. “We were offered hundreds and hundreds of chronographs,” he said, recalling two months of hectic travel to see collections. “We had to disappoint some collectors, but we couldn’t put in more.”
