Phillips Hong Kong's November Sale Puts Tourbillons Front and Centre, From KAWS to Gyrotourbillons

On the weekend of November 21 and 22, Phillips will hold its Hong Kong Watch Auction: XXIII, and the house has built a good part of the catalogue around one complication, the tourbillon. The selection runs from pocket chronometers of the early era to wristwatches made in the last few years. Estimates start at HK$120,000 and top out at HK$11.6 million.

The most talked-about lot is probably Lot 853, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon made with the artist KAWS, which is making its auction house debut. Its caliber 2979 shows the hours and minutes on peripheral indicators instead of hands, which would have spoiled the design. The Companion figure is cut from titanium to match the case and looks pressed against the sapphire crystal. A puffy decorative plate on the back hides most of the movement, a manually wound calibre with a one-minute tourbillon and 72 hours of power reserve, the same one used in the brand's Marvel collaborations. The case is water resistant to 100 m and comes with two straps on a quick-change system. Despite criticism on social media, demand has been strong, and the estimate of HK$1.5 to 2.5 million (US$192,000 to 321,000) sits above the original retail price.

Lot 854 is a Richard Mille RM002-V2 in pink gold. The RM002 arrived in 2002 as the follow-up to the scarcely produced RM001 and is the watch that really launched the brand. Its movement was developed by Renaud Papi at Audemars Piguet and is known for extreme shock resistance, with rubber mounting and ceramic pivots for the tourbillon. This second-generation version has a carbon fibre composite main plate, an industry first. It also has a function selector in the crown, a power reserve display and a dynamographe that shows mainspring torque. This example was recently serviced by Richard Mille and remains under warranty. The estimate of HK$1.5 to 3 million (US$192,000 to 385,000) is below the price of a new Richard Mille tourbillon.

The independents are well represented. Lot 857 is the Tourbillon à Paris Souscription by Théo Auffret, who won the 2018 F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition at 24 and turned his prototype into a limited series that financed his own workshop. He trained at the watchmaking school in Morteau, then under Jean-Baptiste Viot in Paris and Luca Soprana at Ateliers 7h38. The watch is a regulator-style tourbillon with a hand-wound movement of his own design. For the 20-piece run he used CNC milling and outsourced cases. The estimate is HK$900,000 to 1.8 million (US$115,000 to 231,000), which SJX calls tame given demand for independent watchmaking. Lot 901 is a Haldimann H1 Flying Central Tourbillon, one of eight built for members of the PuristS forum, now WatchProSite. Beat Haldimann has no CNC machine in his workshop and makes his own Haldibloc shock absorber. The first batch of four carried red 1, 7 and 8, which form the Chinese phrase for "prosper together". This second-series watch has only a red twelve. It was serviced in 2023 and is estimated at HK$1 to 2 million (US$128,000 to 256,000).

One of the top lots is Lot 931, an F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain 069/01T from the roughly 60 third-series pieces. It is a 38 mm watch first sold in 2001, with a solid yellow gold dial under clear lacquer. Perhaps a dozen were made in this configuration, and only nine are known to the market. Its rhodium-plated brass calibre was cheaper to make than the later 18k rose gold version, yet its rarity commands a premium. The estimate is a wide HK$3.9 to 11.6 million (US$500,000 to 1.49 million).

Lot 947, the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph, is skeletonised and puts the movement centre stage. Its HK$600,000 to 1.1 million estimate (US$76,900 to 141,000) is well below retail. At the other end, Lot 951 is an E.H. Jaccard & Cie pocket chronometer with a Guinand 2 style cage and a pivoted detent escapement, estimated at HK$120,000 to 240,000 (US$15,400 to 30,800), reflecting depressed pocket watch prices.

The sale also offers three Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillons, each estimated at HK$400,000 to 800,000 (US$51,300 to 103,000). Lot 1105, the Gyrotourbillon 1 from 2004, is a 43 mm white gold watch with 114 baguette diamonds, a retrograde perpetual calendar, an equation of time and the desirable No. 8 serial number. Lot 1104 is the Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2, whose aluminum cage weighs a third of a gram and whose outer cage turns once a minute. Lot 1103 is the Master Grande Tradition Gyrotourbillon 3, with a chronograph and a flying tourbillon.

The preview runs daily from November 16 to 22, 10 am to 7 pm, at Phillips in the West Kowloon Cultural District. Session I (lots 801 to 958) starts at noon on November 21, and Session II (lots 959 to 1129) at noon on November 22. The Journe and the KAWS Audemars Piguet are the results most likely to show how strong collector demand is.