Two leading practitioners of fine watchmaking, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet face off at Christie’s upcoming Hong Kong auction, Important Watches: Featuring “Kronos: Titans of Time”, “The Eternity” and “The Chronicle” Collections. The catalogue features blue chip high complications such as the Sky Moon Tourbillon, as well as under-appreciated neo-vintage discoveries, and the most striking of this selection doesn’t even chime.

Lot 2424 – Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref. 5002P-001

While Patek Philippe’s Sky Moon Tourbillon started as a supporting act to the Star Caliber 2000, miniaturising the latter’s planisphere with moon passage and phases, its mindshare has far surpassed its larger sibling. It was Patek Philippe’s most complicated wristwatch when first launched, and the super-watch of the 2000s. Collectors entering the watch world during that time speak of it with the same nostalgia and reverence 2000s kids give to the Bugatti Veyron.

The design was rather contemporary for early 2000s Patek Philippe, and looks nothing like its successor, the baroque ref. 6002. At 42 mm in diameter, it was also notably large — the ref. 5016 with which shares most of its movement, was only 36 mm in diameter. It was forward thinking in another way, selling an extremely expensive, astronomical complication as an off-the-rack product, continuing Philippe Stern’s “build it and they will come” attitude that began with the Calibre 89.

Patek Philippe’s astronomical watches of the 20th century were unique, made to order pocket watches. This was due in part to the artisanal manufacture and financial risk involved in building such a watch without a buyer lined up. It was a borderline act of charity when Henry Graves Jr commissioned his Supercomplication, now buyers fall over themselves to purchase the brand’s flagship products, including the Sky Moon Tourbillon.

The movement inside can be thought of as the same movement found in the ref. 5016, with the star chart on the back, though there is a little more to it. For one, the cathedral gongs are half again as long than those on the ref. 5016 and most other Patek Philippe minute repeaters.

Inside another example of the reference.

It also lacks a seconds hand, as the entire movement has been rotated to move the crown to 4:00, which means the running seconds hand would land at around 8:00. This makes it challenging the gauge the watch’s performance, but Patek Philippe times it anyway, and no Sky Moon Tourbillon will reach a customer without running within chronometer specifications.

The ref. 5002 is a very special, very important watch. Unfortunately, this isn’t a secret and is reflected in the HK$10 – 20 million estimate.

Lot 2394 – Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication

Audemars Piguet (AP) pioneered the modern triple complicated wristwatch with a forgotten prototype made in collaboration with Dominique Loiseau in 1987. The two parties went their separate ways soon after, leading to the Blancpain 1735 in 1991 and the Audemars Piguet Triple Complication in 1992. AP upgraded this calibre with a rattrapante just four years later resulting in the cal. 2885 powering the present watch.

This engine remained at the top of the brand’s movement portfolio, it could even be called AP’s equivalent to the Sky Moon Tourbillon, until being supplanted by the Code 11:59 Ultra Complication. Today these movements are assembled by a team of 12 watchmakers in a workshop within the brand’s museum, doubling as an exhibit.

Audemars Piguet gave this august movement a new look to fit its aggressive and contemporary ceramic vessel, but it is still truly hand finished, with the openworked bridges yielding over a hundred much-coveted sharp interior angles, which many collectors find lacking from industrial fine watchmaking brands today.

Despite a similar level of complication and likely even smaller production numbers than the previous lot, this Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication is estimated to hammer for significantly less at HK$3.7 – 7.5 million. That doesn’t make it a bargain by any means, but it is certainly plenty of watch for the money. If your initials happen to be “MK” the custom rotor could even be a value add, but if not, the cost of exchanging it during a service, or even ordering a new custom rotor, is negligible in comparison.

Lot 2423 – Patek Philippe Ref. 5207

Moving further into the early 2000s, Patek Philippe up-sized the ref. 3974 by simply moving the calibre to a larger case, and using the extra space for cathedral gongs, creating the ref. 5074. But larger cases were also an opportunity to develop new complications, such as the instantaneous aperture perpetual calendar in ref. 5207, one of the best modern Patek Philippe watches in both design and mechanics.

The brand has a long history with instantaneous perpetual calendars. In fact, by the late pocket watch era most of the brand’s perpetual calendars featured an instantaneous or semi-instantaneous change around midnight.

Things changed during the transition to wristwatches, with all the brand’s serially produced wrist perpetual calendars turning over leisurely until the ref. 5207. Patek Philippe’s engineers took a new approach to when designing the calendar module, resulting in a changeover that takes no more than two-hundredths of a second.

This is a very lifestyle-dependent feature — if you’re in bed each night by nine you’ll never notice it. But if you’ve ever checked the time while waiting on a subway platform at 2:00 am and been annoyed that the day hasn’t entirely flipped over, this ref. 5207 might be for you.

Of course, with an estimate of HK$3.8 – 7.5 million, by the time you can afford it you’ll probably be asleep before midnight. In that case it still offers organic, almost Art Nouveau-like case engraving and one of the best-sounding minute repeating movements ever put to the wrist. As all Patek Philippe tourbillons, it will keep excellent time as well.

Lot 2218 – Jules Audemars Tourbillon Minute Repeater Split-second Chronograph Model, Ref. 25923PT/O/0022CR4/01

Patek Philippe doesn’t have a monopoly on modern minute repeaters, as the only other major fine watchmaking house comparable in scale and brand power, Audemars Piguet, is just as active. While repeating chronographs are an extremely common combination of complications in pocket watches, offered by brands ranging from Invicta to Patek Philippe, it is harder to implement at wristwatch scale.

Apparently, Audemars Piguet was not informed of this as the brand has been making its watches chime and time for decades now. This Jules Audemars ref. 25923 from 1999 proves that point. This watch was part of the Tradition d’Excellence Collection, meant to be a run of eight complicated platinum watches, each with different movements. Nicknamed the “cabinet” referring to an eight compartment wood cabinet meant to hold the full run, the project ended early with no. 6, and is remembered by very few.

The chronograph works are quite clearly from a Lemania cal. 2310/2320 (also used by Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin) but transposed onto a minute repeating tourbillon base, then upgraded with a rattrapante. Audemars Piguet’s neo-vintage repeaters sound better than most of the competition from the same era, but lack the many improvements that came with the Supersonnerie generation, holding it back from being more than “quite good”.

Surprisingly, complicated Audemars Piguet watches of this vintage offer excellent value even ignoring the brand value. The Tradition d’Excellence Collection in particular has yet to enter the mainstream, despite the interesting story and interesting watches. As it stands, the estimate of HK$800,000 – 1.6 million should be very tempting.

Lot 2420 – Ruby Set Royal Oak Chronograph Ref. 26334OR

Ironically, the most striking of the watches we’ve covered doesn’t chime at all, but is set with 1,196 brilliant-cut diamonds (8.05 carats) and capped by 55 baguette-cut rubies (3.86 carats). While not confirmed as a unique piece, this watch is the only of its kind known.

Haute joaillerie watches exploded during the 1980s and 1990s, especially in Asia, but have been pushed further into the spotlight in the last few years, going from exotic and made to order — like the present lot — to a pillar of most high-end brands’ collections.

Lately coloured stones are of special interest, as a sort of trend within a trend, and Patek Philippe recently added its high jewellery models to its public catalogue. But Audemars Piguet remains more discreet with its gem-set offerings, and the watches are much rarer, especially during 2017 when this watch was sold.

The estimate of HK$1.2 – 2.4 million seems safe for a nearly unique Royal Oak, however that also means there is no precedent for this model making it a lot to watch.

Lot 2212 – Patek Philippe Ref. 5013R-001, 

Smoked sapphire dials have rejuvenated Patek Philippe’s retrograde perpetual calendar line at the entry level, but its roots lie in the R27 minute repeater family. It is designed for these movements, allowing the second hand to pass through the moon phase disk.

While generally associated with the ref. 5016 and 5316, an automatic version of this movement made its way into the less well known tonneau shaped ref 5013. While most directly inspired by tonneau shaped Patek Philippe watches of the past, such as Henry Graves Jr’s minute repeater, it also brings to mind the Beguet 3218 also sold by Christies just two years ago.

These are nominally 35 mm in diameter with a 46 mm lug-span, but arguably wears the same as, or larger than the ref. 5016 due to the tonneau shape.

This reference is an excellent watch in every aspect besides water resistance, but that is true of all modern Patek Philippe minute repeaters. However, ref. 5013 is significantly more affordable than the watches previously mentioned as it lacks a tourbillon, coming in at HK$1.2 – 2.4 million (US$150,000 – 300,000).