Phillips, in association with Bacs and Russo, closed the New York Watch Auction XIV on the evening of June 14. The two-session sale totalled $75.8 million with every lot sold, making it the highest-grossing watch auction ever held in the United States. The figure beats the $43.5 million Phillips itself set in New York in December 2025, six months earlier. Sixteen lots passed one million dollars.
The headline was lot 10. An F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance "Souscription, No. 007", carrying an estimate "in excess of $1,000,000," sold for $13,922,000 after roughly nine minutes of bidding. It is now the most expensive watch ever sold by F.P. Journe, the most expensive watch by any independent watchmaker ever sold at auction, and the most expensive 21st-century watch offered at a commercial sale. The previous independent record stood at $5.7 million, set by a Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie at Christie's in 2023.
What lot 10 was
The Résonance pairs two independent balance wheels and escapements close enough together that they influence one another and settle into a shared beat, an idea Christiaan Huygens observed in pendulum clocks in the 17th century and Abraham-Louis Breguet later carried into pocket watches. Journe was the first to make it work serially on the wrist, introducing the Chronomètre à Résonance in 2000.
No. 007 belongs to the watches that paid for the rest. Between 1999 and 2000, before Journe was an established name, he offered twenty early Résonance watches to founding clients on a subscription basis, taking deposits that financed production of his young manufacture. Breguet had used the same method two centuries earlier. The lot card describes No. 007 as circa 2000, cased in platinum and 18-karat pink gold, 38mm, running the manual caliber 1499 with 36 jewels, case number 007/00R. Phillips states it is believed to be one of only two examples cased in platinum and pink gold with a matching pink gold dial, and that it was fresh to the market, appearing publicly for the first time.
Journe took half the top ten
Seventeen F.P. Journe lots crossed the block, and the maker accounted for half of the top ten. Behind the Résonance, a Tourbillon Souverain Anniversaire "Hong Kong," number one of five, sold for $4,355,000. A Tourbillon Anniversaire Historique "T30" and an Octa Chronographe "Swiss FineTiming" each made $2,032,000, and a Chronomètre Souverain "Swiss FineTiming" reached $1,968,500. Even the entry-level lots climbed: a Chronomètre Souverain "Nacre" estimated at $60,000 to $120,000 opened the sale at $508,000.
Around the Journe
The runner-up overall was a Patek Philippe reference 5004G-020 "Eric Clapton" at $5,202,000 against a $700,000 to $1,400,000 estimate. It is a white gold split-seconds perpetual calendar chronograph with a salmon "rose" dial and Breguet numeral 12, delivered to Clapton in 2011, described by Phillips as most probably unique and fresh to market. A Patek Philippe 1518, the first serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph, sold for $3,992,000.
The independents held the line below the Patek lots. A Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II, number one of ten, made $1,841,500 against a $120,000 low estimate, and a Roger Smith Series 3 "Unique Piece" set a record for the Isle of Man maker at $1,219,200. Vintage Rolex did its part: a reference 6241 Daytona "John Player Special" reached $1,803,400 and a 6239 "Paul Newman" made $1,079,500.
The read
Two records in six months at the same New York rooms is the cleaner signal than any single hammer. The depth sat at the very top of the market, and it sat with a living independent watchmaker rather than the vintage trophies that have historically anchored these totals. F.P. Journe's own people have been wary of exactly this. Speaking to Robb Report last year, Pierre Halimi, the brand's longtime manager for the Americas, called the prices "just stupid" and "way too high," and warned that results like these draw buyers "more interested in the price than the value." Lot 10 cuts both ways. It is a $13.9 million validation of twenty collectors who, twenty-six years ago, paid a deposit on a promise.
Sources
- Robb Report — Phillips Just Held the Highest-Grossing Watch Auction in U.S. History
- Robb Report — An F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance Sells for $13.9 Million at Phillips
- Phillips — The New York Watch Auction: XIV, browse lots and results
- Phillips — Lot 10, F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance "Souscription, No. 007"
- Phillips — Lot 88, Patek Philippe 5004G-020 "Eric Clapton"
- Phillips — Lot 101, Patek Philippe 1518
- Phillips — Lot 77, Roger Smith Series 3 "Unique Piece"
