Auctions: The Five Results That Actually Mattered, From The Spring 2026 Auction Season

The watch world hasn't seen an auction season like this in quite some time. Well, ever, frankly. Phillips set multiple records (43 by their count, though many are quite obscure), including a new record for the highest single sale of $96,328,083, besting their result from just last fall. If you add in their online auction, they passed $100 million for the first time ever. Sotheby's smashed the record for the most expensive A. Lange & Söhne ever (for a pocket watch, we might add)—a record that only stood for a few weeks, set during the house's Hong Kong sale. But it wasn't so much the overall numbers that were shocking as the fact of which watches were selling for what prices. So, what the heck is going on? Well, we were watching; some of us from afar, others (Andy Hoffman) in the auction rooms. Instead of focusing solely on broad strokes, let's look at five specific results and why they matter for the market. A Bog-Standard Stainless Steel Akrivia AK-06 is Now a $3.8 Million Watch, 30 Times Its Original Retail Rexhep Rexhepi is the hottest watchmaker of the new, young generation, and it's not particularly close. That's not a dig on his contemporaries, but rather a reflection of the realities of the market, where people are clamoring (to an unbelievable degree) to buy a watch from a man who has made very few watches in the first place, and the few that have come to market reach astronomical prices. There aren't many data points to go off of. Only twelve Akrivia or Rexhep Rexhepi watches have sold at auction (according to Everywatch), but aside from the first sale of a Chronomètre Contemporain II recently for a rumored price near $2 million, the highest price paid for one of his watches was $1.4 million for one of his original Chronomètre Contemporain models in 2024 (a lot for a time-only watch, to be fair). The most ever paid for an Akrivia was $1.2 million (for an AK-01) in 2024, and the last time an AK-06 came up for sale (in 2023), it sold for $680,000. One just sold for 5.6x that price, and about 30x the retail price ($83,000) when it launched in 2017. An AK-06 is an immaculately finished watch with an impressive 100-hour power reserve. It's also much more difficult to wear and has a more unusual aesthetic than his Chronomètre Contemporain series. But people will fight over anything with Rexhep's name on it. Even if Rexhepi is the most in-demand watchmaker among indie collectors right now, candidly, this result may feel a bit divorced from reality for many people, including Rexhep's collectors. We talked to indie collectors over the weekend, all of whom own multiple pieces by Rexhepi, who told us they viewed a price like this as more in line with what the market could be five, maybe even ten, years from now. But for whatever reason, two bidders found these pieces so enticing they pushed their chips all in.  Or maybe they got caught up in the indie craze. It's not just Rexhep that received big results. Phillips was basically the only auction house drawing in offerings from the current "in crowd" of independents. The Greubel Forsey x Philippe Dufour x Michel Boulanger Naissance d'Une Montre 1 (one of the most impressive feats of modern watchmaking) sold for CHF 1,651,000. The young Parisian phenom Théo Auffret's prototype for his recently announced time-only watch fetched a pretty remarkable CHF 571,500. Lederer (whose founder is celebrating 40 years in the industry) had its own Inverto prototype up for sale and achieved CHF 342,900. Even a Haldimann central tourbillon from 2006 drew CHF 482,600 against a CHF 70,000–140,000. Next to Rexhepi and Philippe Dufour, the other big indie auction darling the last few years has been Roger Smith. Phillips also sold the first example of his Series 3 to come to market, and the CHF 711,200 result proved that people still have a soft spot for the highest-end British horology being made today. You could argue, however, that almost all of these results are driven by people who are not only passionate about the watchmaking itself, but were too late (or for whatever reason unlucky or unable) to get one of these watches directly from the maker. The "OG" collectors were lucky enough to get them a while ago, and this weekend also seemed to have results pointing to where those collectors are spending their time. Who Is Louis Richard? Why Did His Pocket Watch Sell For $5.1 Million? And Why Is The Pocket Watch Market Suddenly A Rocketship? Of the three questions, the easiest to answer is the last. Why are pocket watches going crazy? Because they deserve it. And because a small group of collectors with very deep pockets—the same ones that were deep in the indie market before it was cool—have been competing privately for some time to get the most important horological objects in history, hype be damned. But other people are starting to take notice, and it's beginning to drive up prices. Photo courtesy Phillips. Let's recap the results, shall we? After the record-breaking result of the highlight lot at Phillips, the Patek 2523, the next highest sum was paid for the Louis Richard Triple Detent Constant Force One Minute Tourbillon Chronometer, which fetched just shy of CHF 4 million, or $5,125,000 against a CHF 100,000 to 200,000 estimate. The name of the watch is a word salad of all the things that make a deep horological nerd happy. This is the only watch with three detent mechanisms—rest, impulse, and disengagement—and was made by a Swiss watchmaker obsessed with chronometric precision. The watch looks simple, but its movement has an almost futuristic quality, thanks to the matte-steel bridge. The gear train can also be locked, and the tourbillon can be easily removed for regulation. There has never been a watch like this before, and probably never will be again. With buyers understanding that it probably won't leave a collection anytime soon, a battle ensued. "There is a tailwind for these watches," Aurel Bacs, Phillips auctioneer and Senior Consultant at Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo, says on the sidelines of the auction. Independents and pocket watch prices are being driven by a group of sophisticated collectors who understand the significance of these pieces in horological history. And he's right. As the weekend went on, we spoke with two major buyers of these watches (both of whom wished to remain anonymous and keep their comments private), who emphasized the watches' historical and horological significance. This is in contrast to other collectors who either search for wearable watches or, often with the broader non-enthusiast community, look for watches to wear around to flex the zeroes on their bank accounts. The Louis Audemars "La Royale."Photo courtesy Phillips. Paul Ditisheim "Minute Detent Escapement Tourbillon." Photo courtesy Phillips. A Charles Frodsham "Minute Repeating Split-Seconds Chronograph with One-Minute Tourbillon." Photo courtesy Phillips. That's why you saw the incredible Louis Audemars & Co. La Royale "Super Complication" go to a private collector for CHF 2.5 million (and change). Chronometry and tourbillons seemed to be a focus, with a Paul Ditisheim watch (another accuracy obsessive) going for nearly CHF 1.3 million due to the fact that it's one of the most accurate watches by maybe the most accurate watchmaker in history, AND the fact that the tourbillon cage was likely made by Albert Pellaton-Favre, the godfather of the 20th-century tourbillon escapement. Charles Frodsham's watches saw great results. We could go on and on. And that's not counting Charles de Gaulle's Agassiz pocket watch that set a record for the brand at CHF 1.46 million. Photo courtesy Sotheby's. It wasn't just Swiss and English watchmaking that soared. The CHF 1,587,007 ($2 million) result at Sotheby's for one of nine Lange Grande Complication pocket watches is a record for the brand. A unique flying tourbillon with spring detent escapement and regulator dial (with digital hour)made by an obscure but important German watchmaker, Richard Miklosch, sold at the small Cortrie auction house last weekend for €900,000 against an estimate of €20,000 to €40,000. Even a school watch by Karl Geitz, a flying tourbillon with spring detent escapement made at the Deutsche Uhrmacherschule (where the flying tourbillon was invented), went for CHF 355,000.  Karl Geitz "Flying Tourbillon with Spring Detent Escapement." Photo courtesy Phillips. Veteran collector and scholar Dr. Helmut Crott says the pocket watch market is certainly back. Crott himself says he previously owned several of the pieces that sold strongly over the weekend. He was a bidder on several lots and was the buyer of Lot 32 at Sotheby's, the A. Lange & Söhne Triple Complication, for CHF 332,799. The Louis Richard is "the most important chronometer in Swiss history," Bacs said, and the market recognized it. He noted that the market for pocket watches had shifted so much that, just a few years ago, the same pieces would have "made a fraction" of the results they did on the weekend. This feels like a sea change that won't shift back any time soon. The F.P.Journe Chronomètre à Résonance "Souscription No. 18" Broke A Record, But Other Record-Breaking Results Don’t Exactly Make Sense Maybe the most attractive F.P. Journe Résonance to appear at auction in a while, the "Souscription No. 18" with its two-tone case and silver dial set a record for the reference at CHF 4,875,500 ($6.3 million). That's CHF 900,000 more than Souscription No. 1 (the same configuration) achieved in 2021. It's hardly surprising anymore that F.P.Journe is reaching these heights, especially after the brand achieved nearly unbelievable results at Phillips New York in 2025. That was the auction where Francis Ford Coppola's personal FFC set the brand record, and the last Résonance record was set at just shy of $4 million. So why not? What's $2.4 million between friends?  The same could be said for the record-breaking price for the Octa Chronographe Souscription that sold at that same auction for around $1.6 million. Arguably more important than the brass movement Octa Chronographe at Phillips this spring, but the new opportunity pulled in $600,000 more. But that makes it all the more surprising that the Tourbillon Souverain ref. T at Christie's didn't make a dent in the previous records, for the reference, but CHF 2,439,000 is a lot of money anyway you slice it. The example at Phillips was nearly 1 million Swiss Francs less. The F.P. Journe market is hard to understand. There's no doubt that François-Paul Journe is likely the greatest living watchmaker when viewed through the lens of his prolific number of movements, models, dedication to chronometry, history, and his tremendous commercial success. It's also true that he was undervalued by the market for a long time, and a variety of people (dealers and companies alike) tried to corner or even force a market. Now, collectors are rabid for the brand, and it doesn't show signs of slowing, as much as it maybe doesn't make sense to some people the extreme prices watches like the Élégante are fetching. A very valuable wall clock, at least according to one buyer. Photo courtesy Christie's. If $100,000 for a quartz watch from Journe makes little sense, then a retailer's AA-battery-powered wall clock that looks like an Octa Réserve de Marche, selling for over $200,000, is frankly hard to comprehend. It's understandable that, by now, collectors of Journe have so much money tied up in the brand that they can't allow prices to fall below certain levels, but buying a clock that's not even made by the brand, even for even a tenth of that price, shows that there's nothing logical about some people's fandom. The kicker, however, after a record sale of the Résonance, was the immediate announcement that Phillips yet again will have one of the other four two-tone souscription pieces up for sale, this time with a rose dial. The watch, number 7, carries an estimate of in excess of $1 million. The one in Geneva is technically rarer—only two were made with silver dials—but the interest was strong. It takes two bidders to drive a price to a record price, and with one of the two in Geneva walking away with a watch they want, this example could either go lower or, bolstered by the continued demand and records, reach an even higher result.  A CHF 256,000 Result for a Cartier Mystère Tortue Shows That People Are Trying To Unravel The Mystery of the Cartier Market One watch we didn't cover in the preview, but that did quite well at auction, is the Cartier Mystère Tortue from Sotheby's "The Shapes of Cartier" series—the watch sold for nearly CHF 256,000. Multiple sources dismissed the watch as a JLC (whether largely a JLC but officially rebranded for the Maison, or one with later-added stamps to pass it off as a Cartier), and there are certainly a few nearly identical examples floating around under the Jaeger brand. Either way, it doesn't seem exemplary of anything Cartier was known for. But for a few buyers, it was convincing and captivating enough to be worth bidding up, and the results were solid across the board. Photo courtesy Sotheby's. Photo courtesy Sotheby's. Photo courtesy Sotheby's. It seems the Cartier market is still trying to find its footing, and that's reality after a mysterious and surprising result at Sotheby's Hong Kong sale. A number of collectors who spoke to Hodinkee on background found the results—with record after record—completely outside the bounds of normalcy, even abnormal, yet realistic. It seems that at least some of the results, including the record-breaking Cartier London Crash and Paris Oval sales, went to Shinsuke Sakimoto, a former professional soccer player turned luxury reseller. Sakimoto also purchased Jane Birkin's prototype "Birkin" bag last year for $10 million, so it seems he's willing to pay whatever it takes for what he sets his mind on, though it's not clear whether he even cares what the rest of the watch market thinks. And, in turn, the market isn't sure what to make of the auction results he was so active in. A Cartier Paris Crash sold for CHF 383,000. A London Tank Cintrée with blue numerals sold for CHF 154,000. A Cartier Paris Driver was just shy of CHF 130,000. All of these felt like quite solid results, but within a delta of possible results on a strong day at any auction. So despite any potential confusion and uncertainty, dealer Mike Nouveau, who won lots for a Cartier London Tank Normale at Sotheby's and a gold Tank Basculante on a bracelet at Phillips, says the overall auction market is very strong, with a few notable exceptions. "[Cartier] Crash prices continue to rise – both regular Crashes and rare Crashes. The prices continue to rise. Obviously, Cartier remains very strong. Patek is strong enough where it's difficult for me to buy. Real vintage AP, pre-Royal Oak, seems strong. Obviously, Lange and Journe continue to surge. I mean, it's just everything is seemingly going up, except for four-digit Rolex," Nouveau says. Speaking of which… Patek Philippe ref. 2523 Is A $10 Million Watch, While Rolex Falters It's easy to make the argument that, as the market has massive and sudden spikes (and potential for volatility) for Journe, indies, and pocket watches, and as it shifts away from four-digit Rolex—which certainly seems to be the case when Mil-Subs and four-digit Daytonas don't track as severely positive as the last few years—that Patek is the one safe harbor with an upward trend that still makes sense. Photo courtesy Phillips. The result of the Patek 2523 worldtime at Phillips—the only one to come to market with the cloissoné map of South America—was expectedly massive, selling for CHF 7,961,000, or about $10.2 millon. The watch went to Davide Parmegiani, who was on the phone (possibly with a client). That makes it the third most expensive wristwatch ever sold at a non-charity auction, and the fifth most expensive wristwatch sold at auction, period. If you want more rankings, how about the third-best auction result for a vintage Patek wristwatch (after the vintage 1518s in steel) and the best auction result for a vintage wristwatch without a chronograph? These ref. 2523 variants are, as we pointed out in our preview, a grail-upon-grail for vintage collectors, next to (and even rivaling) the rarest variants of ref. 2499 and ref. 1518. Only a few (the Asprey 2499, a rose-gold first-series 2499, the Prince Mohammed Tewfik pink-on-pink 1518, to name a couple) could possibly garner such interest. Why? Because they're legitimately rare and yet comprehensibly important. Photo courtesy Christie's. Take, for instance, the unique Audemars Piguet cushion-shaped chronograph at Christie's. Undoubtedly, this was the most historically important AP wristwatch to come to market in a long time. Only two of the first three AP chronograph wristwatches still exist, and this is one. AP's museum holds the other. The CHF 2,134,000 result is a record for an AP wristwatch. Phillips sold a ref. 5503 triple calendar with chronograph this past weekend as well, for just over CHF 1,000,000. Strong results, but representative of a market without an outlet to express its interest. A Rolex Daytona 'Paul Newman' reference 6239 in yellow gold sold for about CHF 1.2 million. It was a record for the reference, but the ref. 6241 "John Player Special" in the same auction fell short  of the next 11 highest prices for the configuration. Photo courtesy Sotheby's. You can search for, study, understand, and codify not just the important Patek watches themselves but how their market has grown and evolved over time. You can hunt for the best 1518, 2499, 2523, etc., decide whether the one on the market today is the one you want, and whether the price is right or trending your way. The dials can be studied, evaluated, and understood (with more reliable authenticity) than those of Milsubs or Paul Newman Daytonas. There is genuine rarity, unlike many four-digit Rolexes. But the APs, on the other hand, offer a forced decision: buy it or don't. You'll likely never have another chance. And to some people, that doesn't feel like collecting. So that's not to say that a record result for AP doesn't matter. It just underlines how strong vintage Patek is as the blue chip is when it comes to steady growth.