“In a world where exclusivity and uniqueness are keywords to discerning collectors, there is nothing more exciting than when watchmakers from all over Europe make timepieces that never before have ever been available,” says Aurel Bacs of Bacs & Russo, which will be holding the 2015 Only Watch auction in association with Phillips. “There is no boundary to creativity.”
Exclusivity and uniqueness
This much is clear from the catalogue of pieces on offer. Take, for example, the Bell & Ross BR01 Tourbillon Skull Bronze (estimated at 100,000-120,000 Swiss francs) with its sunken treasure-chest patina, or the MB&F Melchior ‘Only Watch’, a unique robot table-clock designed to celebrate the creativity of MB&F in this, its 10th year (30,000-45,000 francs). More classically elegant is the Patek Phillipe Reference 5016 presented in, unusually, stainless steel. This fabulous Grand Complication is estimated at a conservative 700,000-900,000 francs. And then there’s the Tudor Heritage Black Bay One (watch the bidding sail past the 4,500-franc higher estimate), though the recent release of the regular Black Bay in black pushes almost all the same aesthetic buttons if you’re unlucky enough to miss out on Tudor’s first unique timepiece. You can find all 44 timepieces from Phillips’ Only Watch 2015 sale – taking place on 7 November 2015 in Geneva – listed in the Classic Driver Market.
