If This Is Any Indication, We're in for a Heck of an Auction Season

"Though it was serially produced, the 1518 was still made in incredibly small numbers - just 281 pieces are known, most of which are made of yellow or rose gold. Only four examples are known in stainless steel, and this rarity has driven incredible hammer prices: Phillips sold one of these in 2016 for a shade more than $11 million in Geneva."

"This wasn't the only record broken this weekend. Phillips moved a further ~$65 million in watches, making its sale the highest total for any watch auction ever. All 207 lots offered were sold, including a pink-on-pink ref. 1518 CHF 3,569,000 and a 1967 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona "Paul Newman" ref. 6239 in 18k yellow gold with a champagne dial for CHF 1,079,500, grossing the auction house a total of $83,018,538."

"All of which sets the stage for the The New York Watch Auction: XIII on December 6 and 7, which will feature one of the season's most important lots. Francis Ford Coppola, seeking to recoup significant losses on his monumental self-financed film Megalopolis, is auctioning off his unique F.P. Journe FCC prototype. Conceptualized by the famed director and produced by François-Paul Journe, it features a special historically-informed display in which a human-like hand indicates the time via moving finger digits."

The 1940s saw Patek Philippe introduce the ref. 1526 perpetual calendar and the ref. 1518 perpetual calendar chronograph, the first serially-produced wristwatch combining those complications. The 1518 was produced in just 281 known pieces, mostly yellow or rose gold, with only four stainless-steel examples. One stainless-steel 1518 sold at Phillips in 2016 for just over $11 million and then again recently for nearly $18 million, becoming the most expensive vintage Patek wristwatch sold at auction. Phillips' sale moved about $65 million more in watches, grossing $83,018,538 with all 207 lots sold. Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning a unique F.P. Journe FCC prototype featuring a human-like hand display to recoup film losses.

Read at InsideHook