New releases – Daniel Roth Extra Plat Souscription

This model pays homage to the brand’s roots and founder. Limited to 20 pieces, this edition is faithful to the original model of the 1990s in style and craft, but new in terms of mechanics, with the DR002 movement within having been developed and manufactured in house at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. The latter also made the solid gold dials, engine turned by a single artisan in a process that required 10 hours of work per dial. The 18k yellow gold case retains the double ellipse form, but with a centered godron along its outline for a balanced profile. 

 

 

New releases- Anywhere Arborea

This limited edition of 15 platinum pieces reinterprets Henri Rousseau’s iconic painting "The Virgin Forest at Sunset." Each one of the 575 miniature alveola – unique in size and shape – is hand-painted. The watch allows its wearer to know the length of the day and the times of sunrise and sunset for a location of their choice, anywhere in the world. The 39 mm case hosts the manual winding Caliber C030, featuring a 72-hour power reserve.

 

 

Watches at auction - World records

In 2024, Phillips Watches sold 1,790 lots at auction with 25 timepieces selling above US$1 million. Among them were the three examples pictured below.

 

This 18ct gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona with ‘Paul Newman Lemon dial’, brown ‘tropical’ subsidiary registers and outer track sold for over US$2.8 million and set the world auction record for Reference 6264. The Geneva Watch Auction XX, November 2024.

 

 

This world time Patek Philippe Ref. 2523/1 in yellow gold features two crowns, a guilloche dial and metallic city ring. It sold for US$1,934,840. The Geneva Watch Auction, May 2024.

 

 

This magnetic ‘water clock’ by Cartier dates to circa 1929 and came with the original presentation box. It is made of marble, silver, lapis lazuli, nephrite, coral, mother-of-pearl, enamel and jade. It sold for US$1,917,657, setting a world record for this kind of timepiece. The Hong Kong Watch Auction XVIII, May 2024.

New releases – Suchy & Söhne Belvedere

The Champagne & Bordeaux models are the latest additions to the Belvedere collection. The moving date window advances day by day. The 40.8 mm 316L, pearl-blasted steel case is water resistant to 10 ATM and hosts the automatic Caliber CSS201, based on a Dubois-Dépraz movement and equipped with a gold-plated oscillating weight. The latter features a micro engraving of the Vienna Belvedere Palace.

 

 

New releases - ZRC Q157 Phénix

This 200-piece limited edition of the GF42168PH diving watch was made to celebrate the brand’s partnership with the expedition aiming to find the wreck of a French Navy a submarine disappeared on June 15th, 1939. The machined 316L stainless steel case is waterproof up to 300 meters depth. A luminescent SLN Old radium X1 paint adorns the hour and minute hands as well as the hour markers on the unidirectional bezel with a bright blue insert coordinated with the dial. Its case back is decorated with an engraving representing a mythical phoenix. The movement is the Sellita SW-300 caliber. 

 

 

The Watch Library

 

A short video story of watch design by The Watch Library, the new online research tool. From the homepage: 'By digitizing and mobilizing the resources and archives of all watchmaking actors (museums, brands, institutions, media, retailers, suppliers, libraries), the initiative can exploit the capabilities of Big Data - the collection and publication of vast amounts of information - in this case about the watchmaking industry. The Watch Library aims to demonstrate how shared data and knowledge foster innovation, creativity and thus feed the imagination of experts, current and future professionals and watch enthusiasts. It reconciles heritage and digital technology to help increase the appeal of watchmaking to the public, especially to the younger generations of collectors.'

 

 

New Releases – Awake Son Mai

The French brand’s first Swiss Made permanent collection features dials combining two Metiers d’Art: the centuries-old Vietnamese art of sanded lacquer, and silver leaf gilding. The construction of the indexes and hands, wrapped in Super-LumiNova® BGW9, generates backlighting effects that magnify the depth and reflections of the lacquer. The 39 mm stainless steel case hosts the automatic Caliber La Joux-Perret G101.