Monaco Legend Group Kicks Off the Auction Season

It’s that time of year, when the sun is setting sooner and the cold, crisp, bright mornings are here. It can mean only one thing: the autumn auction season is upon us — that is, unless you are in the inclement weather of Monaco! As usual, Monaco Legend Group is the first big auction house to hold its sale this autumn, and market watches will be following with interest to gauge how the market performs in these uncertain times.

What is certain, however, is that Davide Parmegiani and his son Andrea have curated a sale of watches for Chairman Claude Cohen to auction that will warm the hearts of even the most battleworn of watch fans, with a range of pieces that include fun, serious and strictly aficionado-only watches.

All this talk of the sky falling on the market — is it true or false, and is Davide Parmegiani worried about such a big sale at this time? “Absolutely false! I actually think the market is very solid, except maybe with some problems for those in short-term speculation positions. The only watches that are losing money are the so-called hype watches, especially modern or contemporary watches produced in not-so-limited editions. In fact, I am quite excited by some good offerings across all the auction houses this fall season and I am delighted with the strong offering — maybe our strongest ever — here at Monaco Legend Group.”

There are strong offerings from all the most important brands, including Rolex, Patek, AP and Cartier. In fact, the cover lots alone would make one world-beating watch collection! Lot 271 is a possibly unique 14K yellow gold Rolex Daytona Cosmograph reference 6265 with a three-line dial and white graphics on the subdials, retailed by Tiffany & Co. in 1974.

Lot 271: Rolex Daytona Cosmograph, Wristwatch in 14K Yellow Gold, With White Graphic, Three Linen, Retailed by Tiffany & Co, Reference 6265

Staying with the cover lots, Lot 104 is another unique watch — a reference 2523/1 from Patek Philippe is a yellow gold double crown world-time wristwatch with 24-hour indicator, retailed by Tiffany & Co. in 1963.

Lot 104: Patek Philippe Dual Crown World Time Wristwatch in Yellow Gold, With 24 Hour Indication, Retailed by Tiffany & Co, Reference 2523/1

The third cover lot is Lot 196, a very rare Cartier Pasha minute repeating perpetual calendar automatic wristwatch in platinum. The watch is number one of five pieces produced with its original white gold Cartier bracelet.

Lot 196: Cartier Number 1, Extremely Rare and Iconic Pasha, Automatic Minute Repeating Perpetual Calendar Wristwatch, in Platinum, Reference W30012, White Gold Bracelet, Additional Leather Strap with Cartier Deployant Buckle

One of the most remarkable offerings in the sale is a collection of four Audemars Piguet perpetual calendars. Each watch is a unique platinum reference 25740PT with skeletonized dial and set with baguette-cut sapphires, rubies, emeralds or diamonds. The pieces were made for Asprey London and each watch comes with an extract from the archive and is in essentially new-old-stock condition.

Lot 176: Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual Calendar, Automatic Wristwatch in Platinum, Skeleton Dial, Calibrated Baguette Sapphires Set Bezel and Lugs, Reference 25740PT

Lot 177: Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual Calendar, Automatic Wristwatch in Platinum, Skeleton Dial, Calibrated Baguette Rubies Set Bezel and Lugs, Reference 25740PT

Lot 178: Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual Calendar, Automatic Wristwatch in Platinum, Skeleton Dial, Calibrated Baguette Emeralds Set Bezel and Lugs, Reference 25740PT

Lot 179: Audemars Piguet Quantieme Perpetual Calendar, Automatic Wristwatch in Platinum, Skeleton Dial, Calibrated Baguette Diamond Set Bezel and Lugs, Blue Registers, Reference 25740PT

Following on from the incredible results that Monaco Legend Group achieved in its April spring 2022 sale for Rolex Day-Dates, this sale has some incredible Presidents for all tastes and budgets. One very interesting example is Lot 88, a white gold Day-Date with sapphire-set hours and a green Khanjar logo in the lower half of the dial. A special-order piece for the Sultanate of Oman, the watch is as cool as it is rare.

Lot 88: Rolex Day-Date, Automatic Wristwatch in White Gold, With Sapphires-Set Dial and Precious Green Khanjar Logo, Reference 1803

Sticking with the Middle Eastern theme, Lot 270 is a platinum Day-Date from the legendary collection of Sandro Fratini, one of the Parmegiani’s most important clients and author of the book My Time (in which the watch is featured). The platinum case has a bezel set with 46 diamonds, and houses a champagne dial with applied Arabic hours as well as the original Arabic date and day wheels.

Lot 270: Rolex Day-Date “Scheherazade”, Automatic Wristwatch in Platinum and Diamonds, With Arabic Calendar and Applied Bronze Arabic Numerals Dial, published in the Iconic Book “My Time”

The other Rolex superstar is the Daytona and for fans of gem-set automatic Daytonas, it doesn’t get much better than Lot 8, a reference 116589SACI in white gold with an incredible baguette-cut sapphire bezel, full-pavé diamond dial with blue enamel Roman hours in like-new condition, complete with box and papers.

Lot 8: Rolex Daytona, Automatic Chronograph Wristwatch, in White Gold, Full Diamond-Pavè, Blue Enamel Roman Number Dial and Rare Sapphire-set Bezel, Reference 116589SACI

Another Daytona that is worth a look is Lot 257, a yellow gold reference 16568 with pavé diamond dial, emerald hours and a baguette diamond-set bezel. The watch was published in Pucci Papaleo’s book Daytona Perpetual and the watch comes with a copy of the Deluxe version of the book. Newman fans will be drawn to Lot 230, a so-called “John Player Special” chronograph reference 6264 in yellow gold, with “Paul Newman” dial.

Lot 257: Rolex Daytona, Chronograph Wristwatch in Yellow Gold, With Diamond-Emerald Set Dial and Baguette Diamond Bezel, Reference 16 568

Lot 230: Rolex Daytona “John Player Special”, Chronograph Wristwatch in Yellow Gold, With “Paul Newman” Dial, Reference 6264

Auctioneer and Chairman Claude Cohen is very optimistic about the sale: “Our Exclusive Timepieces sale this October has, again, demonstrated that we are focused on consigning the very best watches available on the market. We have some amazing watches again in our sale and I am excited to be running the sale again at Le Meridien and look forward to welcoming all our guests, old and new!”

The sale takes place on the 22nd and 23rd October at Le Méridien Beach Plaza hotel in Monte Carlo. The previews take place on Thursday 20th (11:00am to 8:00pm), Friday 21st (10:30am to 8pm) and Saturday 22nd October (10:30am to 12:30pm).

The full catalog is available here.

Monaco Legend Group Kicks Off the Auction Season

You may also like

Latest