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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04: RM67-02 Charles Leclerc Prototype by Richard Mille — CHF2.1 million
Weighing just 32g thanks to its lightweight materials as well as an elasticised, seamless strap that Richard Mille simply calls a “comfort strap”, the RM67-02 is the lightest automatic watch by the brand. The Charles Leclerc prototype was designed to be like “a second skin” for the Formula One Scuderia Ferrari driver, and it helped to drive the development of subsequent RM67-02 models.
Housed in a case made of white and red Quartz TPT (composites exclusive to the brand), the extra-thin automatic movement CRMA7 features bridges and a mainplate machined from grade 5 titanium, and a rotor made of Carbon TPT and white gold. The openworked titanium dial is hand-painted in the colours of the flag of Monaco, where Leclerc is from.
