SINGAPORE – They are highly coveted timepieces, and for good reason.
Literally one of a kind, they are specially created by celebrated watchmakers – from big name brands to independents – for the Only Watch Auction, one of the world’s biggest fund-raisers and a key event in the world of haute horlogerie.
The biennial event – first held in 2005 – raises funds for research into neuromuscular diseases, in particular Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The genetic disorder affects primarily males, occurring in one in 3,000 births, and causes muscle wasting which gets worse over time. Patients with the condition seldom live beyond their 20s.
A personal tragedy led Mr Luc Pettavino, president of the Monegasque Association for Research on Muscular Dystrophies, to come up with Only Watch. His son Paul died from the condition, at age 21, in 2016.
Since its inception, the unique auction – under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco – has raised more than 100 million Swiss francs (S$151 million).
Only Watch 2021 saw 53 watches going under the hammer, raking in 30 million Swiss francs. Patek Philippe’s contribution of a complicated desk clock was sold for a staggering 9.5 million Swiss francs at the event.
As a gauge of how coveted some of these pieces are, a Tudor Black Bay GMT – boasting a patina applied with a secret technique – fetched 650,000 Swiss francs at the same auction, though its estimate was just 4,000 Swiss francs.
The 10th edition, Only Watch Auction 2023 will see bidders jostling for 62 unique tickers – including 16 collaborations – by 73 watchmakers and brands running the gamut from Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille to Rexhep Rexhepi, Urwerk and De Bethune.
Presided over by auction house Christie’s, Only Watch 2023 will be held on Nov 5 at the Palexpo convention centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
Before that, the timepieces will go on a world tour that starts on Sept 6 in Los Angeles. Horology lovers in Singapore will get a chance to admire the watches at Malmaison by The Hour Glass from Oct 20 to 22.
Here are a few of the heart-stoppers.
Hublot MP-15 Takashi Murakami Tourbillon
This is one happy Hublot ticker. Inspired by Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami’s iconic smiling flower, it boasts the Swiss brand’s first central tourbillon, surrounded by 12 petals set with 444 gemstones.
The request for a central tourbillon apparently came from the artist himself. The placement is meaningful for several reasons, chief of which is that haute horlogerie takes centre stage in the watch.
More evocatively, according to Hublot, the tourbillon – the beating heart of the watch – also “represents the heart of the person who buys it at the auction in aid of research against Duchenne’s disease, and also the hearts of those children fighting the disease”.
The timepiece is powered by the HUB9015 manual-winding central flying tourbillon, which has a power reserve of 150 hours.
Tag Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph
Tag Heuer is pulling out all the stops for 2023’s auction, and introducing its first mechanical split-seconds chronograph.
This stunning reimagining of the classic Monaco boasts a 41mm case fashioned from textured titanium, which the Tag Heuer Institute developed for this project.
What will set the hearts of watch fans aflutter is the TH81-00, an automatic split-seconds calibre, also crafted from titanium. Thanks to subsidiary dials suspended on titanium bridges, the movement appears to be almost floating beneath the sapphire dial. Produced in collaboration with famous movement manufacturer Vaucher, the marvellous movement can also be admired through the sapphire caseback.
The person with the winning bid will not only get the watch, but will also join the Swiss watchmaker at the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix in May, with – among other privileges – accommodation, transfers and VIP access to the Tag Heuer hospitality suite taken care of.
Zenith Chronomaster Sport
Zenith is presenting not just one watch, but a set of four with lacquered dials and matching ceramic bezels in bright, happy hues – yellow, green, blue and red – which match the official colours of Only Watch 2023. Incidentally, yellow and red ceramic bezels are a first for the Swiss watchmaker.
Boasting 41mm steel cases, the timepieces are powered by the latest generation of Zenith’s legendary automatic El Primero high-frequency column-wheel chronograph calibre, which measures and displays elapsed time to a precision of 1/10th of a second. Boasting a power reserve of 60 hours, the watches have a date indication at 4.30, as well as a stop-second mechanism for precise setting.
Louis Vuitton Tambour Einstein Automata
For its contribution to Only Watch 2023, French luxury house Louis Vuitton rounded up some of the best talents working in the horological world today.
Manufactured by the maison’s watchmaking division La Fabrique du Temps, the watch has a riveting dial which showcases marvellous techniques of micro-sculpture and grisaille enamel. It depicts the late theoretical physicist Albert Einstein – famous for pronouncing that time is not absolute – mischievously sticking his tongue out.
The dial is brought to life through four animations by the LV 525 calibre. This is the same mechanical movement with manual winding that helped the brand’s Carpe Diem Automata win the Audacity Prize at the 2021 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve, also known as the Oscars of the watch world.
Furlan Marri x Dominique Renaud x Julien Tixier Secular Perpetual Calendar
Furlan Marri has become one of the hottest watch brands in the last couple of years, thanks to its range of superbly made but affordable vintage-inspired timepieces.
Co-founded in 2019 by Andrea Furlan, a Swiss industrial designer, and Hamad Al-Marri, a watch collector and artist from the Middle East, the brand went from Kickstarter microbrand to Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve winner when its Mr Grey Ref 1041-A nabbed the Audacity Prize at the 2021 awards.
Now, the brand is charting new waters by collaborating with famous watchmakers Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier to come up with an ultra-simplified, modular secular perpetual calendar. It boasts a 400 leap year and secular year calculation, thanks to a secular module which is grafted onto the perpetual calendar.
The timepiece has a handsome blue titanium dial with an in-house anodic oxidation treatment, and hands which are handcrafted by 30-year-old Tixier, who is considered one of the most gifted watchmakers today.
The 39mm timepiece is fitted with a Milanese mesh bracelet in rhodium-plated silver, hand-crafted by famous Swiss chainmaker Laurent Jolliet, and comes with an extra vegetable tanned Italian blue leather strap.
Richard Mille Talisman Origine
Richard Mille’s artistic director Cecile Guenat – who is also daughter of the Swiss brand’s co-founder Dominique Guenat – has been on a hot streak, having launched several successful collections including the whimsical Bonbon series and the stone-covered Talisman range.
Under her direction, Richard Mille is turning in this enthralling piece. Fashioned from rhodonite, titanium and gold, the case bears mysterious engraved symbols and has a talisman motif incorporated into the dial and movement construction.
It is fitted to a matching necklace made of Swiss briarwood, gold, titanium and rhodonite, and threaded on metal and rubber string.
The heart beating within this gem of a piece is the Calibre CRMT5, the watchmaker’s in-house skeletonised automatic-winding tourbillon movement with hours and minutes.
Tudor Prince Chronograph One
How do you celebrate a classic? By making it better and, if you can, shinier. This is what Tudor is doing with the Big Block, the Swiss watchmaker’s first automatic chronograph which was released in the 1970s.
This unique piece has not just a new body – a glittering yellow-gold case and bracelet – but also a new heart: the Calibre MT59XX, a brand new Manufacture Chronograph Calibre with a 70-hour power reserve developed entirely by Tudor. The “XX” here is reserved for prototypes, and the new calibre marks a new chapter in the watchmaker’s exploration of column wheel chronograph movement manufacturing.
