Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo sold every one of the 217 lots in The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV over the Nov. 7-8 weekend for CHF 92.0 million, or about $112.3 million including buyer's premium, the auction house said. It is the first live watch auction to pass $100 million and the highest total in the category's history.

The result is the clearest price signal the top of the collector market has given this year. For dealers, private banks and collectors in Asia, it shows that demand for the rarest pieces is running on a different track from sales of new watches, which are tracked in the monthly Swiss export figures for markets such as Hong Kong and China.

The sale drew 2,121 registered bidders from 69 countries, bidding in the room at the Hotel President, online and by phone, according to the Phillips release. The average lot sold for more than $500,000. Seventeen lots made more than CHF 1 million and 24 set world auction records. Phillips did not give a regional breakdown of buyers.

F.P. Journe dominates the Geneva results

The independent maker F.P. Journe supplied the top lot and four of the five most expensive watches. A platinum Chronomètre à Résonance "Régence," the only example with a hand-engraved pink gold dial, sold for CHF 8,680,500, or about $10.6 million. The Hour Markers had listed its estimate as in excess of CHF 1 million.

Another Résonance, a titanium piece made for Journe's Tokyo boutique, fetched CHF 6,146,000. A Vagabondage III made CHF 5,057,000 and a pre-production Résonance numbered 022/99 sold for CHF 4,936,000. In all, 13 Journe watches brought in CHF 31.8 million, about 35% of the sale total.

The top lot extended a run for Phillips: it was the fifth consecutive live sale at the house with a watch above $10 million, the release said.

Other independent makers also did well. A Philippe Dufour Simplicity in platinum sold for CHF 1,968,500, and a Kari Voutilainen Vingt-8 Inversé in tantalum made CHF 1,524,000, a record for the reference. A Sylvain Pinaud Origine No. 2 went to an online bidder for CHF 609,600, more than five times its high estimate. A Harry Winston Opus One Tourbillon reached CHF 1,397,000, a record for the Opus series.

Patek Philippe, Cartier and Rolex records

The leading traditional-brand lot was a 1945 steel Patek Philippe Ref. 1436 split-seconds chronograph. It sold for CHF 6,267,000, about $7.6 million, a world record for any split-seconds chronograph and well above the CHF 2 million to CHF 4 million estimate reported by The Hour Markers.

A Cartier Portico Mystery Clock No. 4, the only example with a hexagonal rock-crystal dial and last offered at auction in 1996, made CHF 4,815,000. Phillips said that is the highest price at auction for any Cartier timepiece.

Rolex lots were led by a yellow gold Ref. 6062 "Stelline" at CHF 2,334,500 and a Ref. 6241 Daytona "John Player Special" at CHF 1,905,000. A Ref. 3830 "Verga" made CHF 1,270,000, a record for a Rolex chronograph outside the Oyster line. The first part of the Pucci Papaleo Collection, 15 Rolex watches, totaled CHF 3,784,600.

Alexandre Ghotbi, Phillips' deputy chairman and head of watches for Europe and the Middle East, and Tiffany To, head of sale, called the first $100 million watch auction "an extraordinary milestone" in a joint statement.

How the total compares

The weekend total compares with CHF 66.82 million, about $83 million, for Phillips' Decade One sale in Geneva in November 2025, which WorldTempus reported was then the highest total for a watch auction. Phillips said the new sale also beat the record it set in Geneva six months ago. The November 2025 sale was led by a single Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 at CHF 14.19 million; this time the money was spread across a deeper list of seven-figure lots.

Geneva's fall week also included Antiquorum's sale on Nov. 7-8, Sotheby's Important Watches on Nov. 8-9 and Christie's Rare Watches on Nov. 9, according to The Hour Markers. Capital Times previewed the week's main lots before the sales. The next official read on the wider market comes when the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry publishes October export figures in mid-November.