Auctions Chameleons, Complications, An Intergalactic Rolex, And All The Big-Time Lots From The Geneva Auctions

Asking dealers, collectors, and enthusiastic onlookers about the most exciting watches across the four sales at Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips, and Antiquorum, I kept hearing about these two vintage watches: an Audemars Piguet full calendar chronograph from 1943 and the Patek Philippe "Chameleon," so named because the yellow-gold bracelet is sculpted in the shape of the color-changing lizard. The excitement for these two vintage oddballs shows how, after the rise (and fall) of the hype watch over the last few years, everyone's ready to talk about actual watches again. 

Imagine that. Craftsmanship-based rarity is what matters again. Vintage matters again. So let's get to it and talk some watches, starting with those two, before whipping around to some of the other highlights from Patek, Rolex, a few other vintage brands, and the indies. Then, we'll observe a moment of silence for modern watches at auction.

First up, the Audemars Piguet complete calendar chronograph ref. 831 at Phillips. Complicated vintage Audemars Piguet watches are already incredibly rare things – unique-commissions-by-rich-folks type of rare. Before 1950, AP made just 208 wristwatches with calendar complications. Because of this, it's pretty much true that no two examples are exactly the same. Just 10 of those wristwatches were the reference 831 (8 of which were yellow gold).

In the metal, the watch is a dream and in the exact type of vintage condition I like to see. Not perfect, but perfectly patinated. It's a compact 33mm with short, thick lugs and the dial has three tones, each warmer than the last: a cream main plate, salmon chronograph indicators, and silver calendar sections within. I've made no secret about my love of so-called neo-vintage complications from Blancpain, Chopard L.U.C, and perpetual calendars from the big guys, but putting this watch on was a reminder that there's just nothing like a truly vintage, complicated watch. It's the warmth, the patina, the hand-made, micro-mechanical magic of squeezing all those complications into a beautifully made gold case in the early '40s. Nothing matches it. Phillips has an estimate of CHF 150,000 to 300,000, but it should pass that.

The Patek Philippe Chameleon has a similar vintage appeal as the AP. Who would've thought one of the most talked about lots of an auction season would be a time-only jewelry watch from 1949? That's how rare this watch is. The only other example sits in the Patek Philippe Museum. A small (18mm small) Patek Philippe dial sits on a yellow-gold bracelet that's been sculpted to look like a Chameleon, with the tale wrapping around the wrist. In the lead-up to seeing this watch, I heard all kinds of experts talking about the rarity and importance of the Chameleon ("perhaps the most important ladies Patek," they'll tell you). It's a jarring look and I'd never claim it's as elegant as its reptilian cousin, the Serpenti, but it kind of works in a "sure, let's take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe" type of way. As another Hodinkee editor put it to me, the vibe is a little old lady. But hey, there's nothing wrong with that – my grandmother was super stylish in her own way, even if her house had that smell.

Antiquorum has an estimate of CHF 50,000 to 100,000 on the Chameleon, and given there's only one other example and it sits in Patek's museum, not to mention the amount of buzz around this watch, I'd be surprised if it didn't scurry past the high estimate.

We could talk other rare or complicated Pateks: a 3974 minute repeater, black dial 570, pink gold 1463, and a whole lot more. But I wanted to highlight the First Series Beyer 3940 at Phillips. Much the way collectors have learned to differentiate between the minutiae of 1518s, 2499s, or vintage Patek perpetuals, they've started to do the same with post-quartz crisis references like the Perpetual Calendar 3940. Over the long run of the 3940 from 1985 through 2007, it's the first 25 examples, made for Zurich retailer Beyer for its 225th anniversary, that are the most important.

It's a reference that's already important to Patek: along with the 3970, it was Philippe Stern's statement that complicated watchmaking at Patek wasn't going anywhere. It rethinks the perpetual calendar from the sharp angles of the previous 3448 and 3450 into something round and Calatrava-like. It's the watch Philippe Stern wore himself, and as a collector once put it to me, "if it was good enough for the old man, it's good enough for me."

Not only that, these first 25 Beyer 3940s are just beautiful. They feature champagne doré dials that are warmer than the common silver dials. I said that nothing compares with a vintage complicated watch like that AP, but these doré dials get pretty damn close. Better than that, this example comes from the original Swiss owner with most of its original accessories – enough to get even the most cynical of collectors excited. For fans of our decimal system, this is example "No. 10" and it says so right on the dial, as all 25 of the Beyer 3940s do. Phillips has an estimate of CHF 60,000 to 120,000, but the premium these command over a standard 3940 has continued to grow – this is a much more expensive watch nowadays (Sotheby's sold one for nearly $400,000 last year) and to me it's worth most of those pennies.

So far I've spent a lot of time talking calendars and chronographs from AP and Patek, but this Breguet triple calendar chronograph is just as special and rare as the offerings from two-thirds of the divine trinity. It's every bit of a Rolex "Jean-Claude Killy," and a whole lot rarer too. Maybe a dozen of these have been found in steel produced across the '50s, '60s, and '70s, which has led some to guess these were custom commissions. Whatever the case, it's beautiful and rare and there aren't too many vintage watches from the era of Breguet before it was acquired by the Chaumet brothers. Christie's sold a similar watch last year for CHF 176,400; I'm a patina guy and like the dial on that example better, but the CHF 120,000 to 180,000 estimate on this weekend's example seems about right.

We almost forgot about integrated bracelet sport watches. The most interesting one of the season is a white gold Vacheron Constantin 222. That's right, a first-of-its-kind 222. For the longest time, we thought the original 222 came in three metals: gold, steel, and two-tone. That was, until this watch was found. 

Here's the story, according to Vacheron and Phillips: In the '80s, a client commissioned a white gold 222 case that they wanted to finish off with diamonds or jewels. After the case was made, the client changed their mind and we ended up with this likely unique plain-jane white gold 222 instead. The watch is in really sharp condition with the hallmarks clearly visible. It's always a bit of a mind melt putting on a white gold (or platinum) version of what's supposed to be a steel sport watch, but the effect was even more exaggerated when picking up this 222, a version of a watch we didn't even know existed until now.

Phillips places an estimate of CHF 100,000 to 200,000 on this 222. So often we judge prices by analogy ("this is worth X, so that should be worth Y" – it's what I've been doing this whole article), but this Vacheron really doesn't have a comparison. If you judge it from first principles though, it's got everything: horologically and historically interesting, rare, important manufacturer, and great design.

Before we get to the perfect his-and-hers Daytonas, a brief intergalactic detour with one of my favorite three-hand Rolex watches, the Galaxy ref. 6098.

Besides having one of the best model names, the Rolex Galaxy comes from the '50s, my favorite era of Rolex, a time when it managed to make sporty and elegant watches. Eventually, it'd evolve into making sport and luxurious watches instead. Nothing wrong with that, but there's something about putting stars on the honeycomb dial of a reference that was also used on Everest that makes me love this era of sporty elegance.

The Galaxy is rare, too – only about 15 examples of the 6098 are known, eight in yellow gold like this one at Christie's. It's got an estimate of CHF 100,000 to 200,000. Phillips sold an example for $176,000 last year, while another slipped a bit under the radar at Heritage Auction in 2020, selling for less than $70,000.

Rolex at auction means Daytonas at auction. We're lucky enough to have a pair of the original "rainbow Daytonas," as Ben and John Mayer called them in Mayer's second Talking Watches. Phillips has the baguette-cut bezel 6270, while Christie's has the princess-cut 6269, references commissioned by the Sultan of Oman (who's the source of a number of the watches in the Christie's sale). Sure they've got diamonds and sapphires and everything else, but they're still real vintage four-digit Daytonas from the '80s with a trusty Valjoux 727 inside.

"Maybe you'd say the 6270 is a his and the 6269 is a hers," Mayer said in that Talking Watches. "But that's dreaming about a life I certainly don't have." Me neither John, me neither. There are eight 6270s known to the market, and perhaps eight to 10 known of the 6269. Both have estimates that top out at more than a million bucks.

Sometimes vintage watches can feel so serious – discussions literally devolve into guys talking in tongues as they shout an incomprehensible mish-mash of dial marks, production series, or reference numbers at each other. But these two watches will turn even the most steadfast vintage nerd into someone who can't decide if they're more of the baguette-cut or princess-cut type, proving that really, humans are pretty simple after all. Oh, if you're more of a simple gold-only type of person, Sotheby's has a nice-looking 6241 "John Player Special" for you.

For the record: it's baguettes for me. See the 6269 at Christie's and the 6270 at Phillips.

The big story in the auction market over the past few years has been the independents. It seems like the tide is still rising, at least for the truly good and rare stuff. But this will be tested in a big way with indie darling, Journe, getting its own stage at Christie's "Art of F.P. Journe" this week, a sale of 39 Journes. Some of the early and rare Journes with brass movements should do well: a Souscription Tourbillon and a Resonance are the biggest ones that serious Journe lovers will be watching in particular.

Like a lot of the other watches in the sale, the Souscription Tourbillon has appeared publicly in the past couple of years (here it is previously listed at European Watch Co.), so it'll be interesting to see how some of these (in some cases, very public) traders make out. A year ago, it was Royal Oak Mania, as Phillips celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Royal Oak and other auction houses stuffed their catalogs full of 'em; soon after, the market experienced a bit of Royal Oak fatigue. Could the same happen here? This sale, and the Journe market more broadly, is smaller than others, so perhaps the effect won't be as pronounced.  

Elsewhere, Phillips has the first grand and petite sonnerie Audemars Piguet pocket watch made by Philippe Dufour in the '80s (estimate CHF 400,000 to 800,000) and smaller house Ineichen also had an impressive indie-themed sale featuring Journe, Genta, Parmigiani, and other big names you'd expect.

I, for one, welcome the change. Sure there are still a lot of modern watches in the catalogs and a $50,000 steel Nautilus selling for $2 million (or whatever) is certifiably insane, but at least it's not taking up all the oxygen in the room. We're back to talking about the watches that are truly rare and interesting and important; even weird watches with chameleons for bracelets.

Now that we've covered some of the headline watches, we'll be back tomorrow with an Editor's Picks of some of the other watches we loved from a day of previews in Geneva.