After venturing into new territory with two art auctions last month, auction house Ineichen returns to its wheelhouse in December: auctioning off luxurious and highly collectible wristwatches.
The “Complications: Dates & Calendars” auction, which will take place as a live auction in Zurich on December 3 at 2 p.m., will comprise 54 lots. Once again Ineichen has managed to put together an outstanding offer that will delight collectors and enthusiasts. But there is also something new. In May of this year, Ineichen had already shown that it was willing to break new ground and abolished the buyer premium for its auctions. Now a new option is added that will make the house's auctions even more attractive for its customers: the opportunity to purchase the lots at a fixed price instead of bidding on them.
Discover here six highlights of the current auction:
Let's start with a classic, which is also the top lot of the auction: an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in the platinum version from the early 2000s. Featuring a light blue iridescent mother-of-pearl dial, this timepiece is one of the rare Royal Oaks with a perpetual calendar, making it difficult, if not impossible, to find.
The case of this Octo Chrono model by FP Journe is also made of platinum and is paired with a black alligator leather strap. The chronograph comes from a collection in which all gold dials have a ruthenium coating. The Ruthénium collection was FP Journe's first limited edition collection and consisted of five platinum models with a mintage of just 99 pieces each.
Now we come to three highlights with cases made of polished rose gold. The first is this De Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar, which features a silver guilloché dial with spherical moon phase, month, date and weekday indicators.
The rose gold case of this Chapter Three wristwatch from the Maîtres du Temps brand, founded in 2005 by American entrepreneur Steven Holtzman, is stylishly combined with dark blue tones. The signatures on the back identify the two renowned independent watchmakers Kari Voutilainen and Andreas Strehler as creators. Released as a one-off, the watch features a 'secret' dial function and displays day or night and a second time zone on rollers at the push of a button on the crown.
This Eclipse watch comes from the most famous Dutch watchmaker, Christiaan van der Klaauw, whose main focus is on astronomical complications. As a nice detail, Christiaan van der Klaauw lets the sun and moon rise at 12 o'clock over a silhouette of his home town with a church spire and a windmill.
The renowned Swiss watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin is the mastermind behind the Ochs und Junior brand, from which comes this attractive astronomical wristwatch that draws attention with its exciting design. Oechslin is not only a qualified master watchmaker, but also studied archeology and ancient history and has a doctorate in philosophy and history of science as well as astronomy. He incorporates all this knowledge into his watch designs, with simplification being his top priority, which is clearly evident in the present model.
Discover all the watches in the auction right here at Barnebys!
