Over the weekend, the ninth edition of the Only Watch charity auction took place. The biennial auction, which benefits research for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, was held for the first time at the Palexpo Geneva this year.
With Christie’s conducting the auction, the event raised CHF30 million (S$44.42 million) from the sale of 53 unique timepieces from 54 leading watch brands. This brings the total amount raised by the nine editions of Only Watch to over CHF100 million. In the latest edition, five timepieces smashed the CHF1 million mark. (Note that there is no additional buyer’s premium for this auction.) Here are the five priciest pieces.
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03: Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Only Watch by Audemars Piguet — CHF3.1 million
Hewing the closest to the original Royal Oak designed by Gerald Genta in 1972, the Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin is a huge favourite of Audemars Piguet fans. The steel variant, 15202ST, is also apparently going to be discontinued next year, which could help to explain the jaw-dropping price for the Only Watch edition, which is “the last unique 15202 and the last unique piece powered by Calibre 2121”. The Petite Tapisserie dial also retains the codes of the original 5402 A series, including the typography of the signature and monogram, as well as the positioning of the word “Swiss” under the hour market at 6 o’clock.
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The watch has a 39mm case and a bracelet made from sandblasted titanium. Its bezel is made from Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG), which is a first for AP. BMG refers to non-crystalline metallic alloys, and Panerai has used a variant called BMG-Tech. Here, the BMG used is a palladium-based alloy that, when cooled rapidly, has similar characteristics to glass, such as “amorphicity, transparency and high strength”, which makes it highly corrosion- and wear-resistant.
