June auction update – Sylvester Stallone’s Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime is sold for $5,400,000

What to make of the current market? Quickly following on from May’s Geneva and Hong Kong spring auctions, covered by WatchGecko Magazine, the international watch auction world parked up in New York for the June sales.

Jonathan’s comments were a useful insight into the current market. I hope in July’s auction report to provide more commentary and analysis of the market. Meantime this report will look at some of the highlights for the month of June, across New York and London.

The undoubted headline from the June New York watch auction season was Sotheby’s sale on 5 June of Sylvester Stallone’s, Patek Philippe, Reference. 6300G-010 Grandmaster Chime wristwatch from 2021. Achieving a superb USD $5,400,000, (approx. £4,273,800), including buyer’s premium against an estimate of USD $2,500,000 - 5,000,000. The watch was sold after a four-minute bidding battle between a total of five bidders. Sotheby’s noted that the timepiece was the third most valuable wristwatch sold in Sotheby’s history, and the highest price achieved for any modern watch sold at Sotheby’s.

In all eleven watches from the collection of Sylvester Stallone’s were put up for auction with every watch selling. Six of the eleven timepieces went to online buyers. Stallone is a well-recognised watch collector and the watches he offered at auction had been collected over 20 years.

As Sotheby’s catalogued the Grandmaster Chime wristwatch was originally unveiled by Patek Philippe in 2014 to commemorate the watchmaker’s 175th anniversary. In 2016 the watch became part of the model range and was designated as Reference 6300. It is Patek Philippe’s most complex wristwatch on offer and is an incredible piece of haute horology. The watch has a total of twenty complications within its mechanical movement including moon phases, Grand Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie, and a perpetual calendar. In all there are five chiming mechanisms hence the model’s name as Grandmaster Chime. 

The Stallone watch has two blue dual dials and an 18K white gold reversible case adorned on the sides with Patek Philippe's hobnail pattern, sized at 47.7 mm diameter. Notably the watch is contained within its plastic protective package. An extensive group of items accompanies the watch including a presentation box engraved with Stallone's name and adorned in white gold. The lot additionally includes a Certificate of Origin dated 2021 confirming Sylvester Stallone as the original purchaser and there is a personally signed handwritten note from Sylvester Stallone. 

As Christie’s noted, Richard Mille worked with world-class experts in sapphire crystal cutting at Stettler of Lyss in Switzerland. In addition to allow for even greater transparency, the barrel bridge, central bridge, tourbillon bridge and third wheel are all machined from sapphire crystal.

Amazingly the tourbillon manual movement is suspended within the sapphire case via a cable and pulley system that was first developed for the Richard Mille, RM27-01 Rafael Nadal wristwatch. The movement baseplate is made from grade 5 titanium and is suspended in the sapphire case by a titanium cable with a thickness of only 0.35 mm. The cable is in turn threaded within a system of 10 pulleys located at the movement’s corners and along the movement’s periphery. Cable tension is controlled by a miniature ratchet at 9 o’clock and a separate indicator located below 12 o’clock.

The watch was accompanied with its official warranty card dated March 2016, certificate of authenticity, service booklet dated July 2023, product literature, travel pouch, presentation box and outer packaging. 

Philippe Dufour is a highly recognised and respected award-winning watchmaker working in the Vallee de Joux in Switzerland. He is amongst a select group of today’s finest independents and renowned for watch models such Simplicity and Duality. His watches are classical in form with high complication in-house mechanical movements that are superbly finished. Dufour opened his workshop in 1978 and continues to make small numbers of his stunningly crafted haute horology timepieces.

This June in New York, Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo brought an exceptionally rare Philippe Dufour wristwatch to market for their 8 - 9 June watch auction. The watch is a Philippe Dufour, Duality, manual movement wristwatch in 18K white gold from 1999 with a 34mm diameter case.

The Duality was introduced in 1996. Making the wristwatch so special is its double escapement featuring two independent balance wheels compensated with a central differential gear. As Phillips catalogued such an arrangement enables greater accuracy as it allows the balances to average out their rates. This is an incredibly complex mechanism to create let alone fit within the small confines of a 34mm diameter case. Phillips further noted that Dufour has so far made a total of nine Duality wristwatches.

Fresh-to-the-market the watch was accompanied with its original boxes, guarantee, and a second lacquered dial with Roman numerals and Breguet-style hands.

Estimated at between USD $800,000 - 1,600,000 the watch fetched an above estimate price of USD $2,056,500, (approx. £1,627,600), including buyer’s premium. 

The association between Heuer and motorsport is legendary and continues today with TAG Heuer. Most notably with the brand’s role as official timekeeper and partner with the Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team.

During the late 50s, the 60s and 70s Jack Heuer championed his brand within the motorsport world providing both timing instruments as well as launching new chronograph wristwatches. One of these wristwatches was the Carrera chronograph launched in 1963 and named after the gruelling Carrera Panamericana Road race held in Mexico. Today the Carrera chronograph wristwatch remains a core model in TAG Heuer’s watch range.

Bonhams ‘Fine Watches’ sale held in London on 19 June had a very rare Heuer Carrera Reference. 1158 CH, automatic chronograph wristwatch in 18K gold from circa 1973. With a 38mm diameter case the watch comes on a very fine quality 18K gold Gay Freres made bracelet. With excellent provenance the Carrera was owned by the sponsorship manager for Team Surtees, a Formula 1 team that competed during the 1970's run by John Surtees CBE (1934-2017). Surtees was himself a Formula 1 World Champion in 1964.

For the sale Bonhams noted that the Heuer Carrera Reference. 1158 CH is an iconic collector reference, known as the 'Montre de Pilote' or 'Driver's Watch'. They added, it is estimated that less than 500 pieces are thought to have been produced in the early 1970s. Accordingly Jack Heuer ordered six watches for Team Surtees of which this is one of the six.

At the auction the Carrera fetched £40,960 including buyer’s premium with the estimate being £30,000 - to £40,000. 

divers’ wristwatch from circa 1982. Watches of Knightsbridge catalogued that the timepiece is one of only a few examples known and is thought to have been a prototype evaluated by the Royal Navy before ultimately giving the contract, on that occasion, to Precista Watches.

The wristwatch is powered by a Calibre 2872 automatic movement. The case is sized at 42mm in diameter and features fixed bars, as often required for military specification watches.

Listed with an estimate of £1,500 - 3,000 the CWC exceeded the high estimate selling for £5,500, hammer price, before buyer’s premium is added.