Specialists' Picks: The Geneva Sessions, Online Auction, Fall 2024

Our team in Geneva selects their top picks from our first auction of the new season.

Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is thrilled to welcome you to The Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, online auction, running from 12:00 PM CET, Thursday, September 5, to 2:00 PM CET, Thursday, September 12. Featuring 70 different high-end luxury wristwatches, the sale covers everything from A. Lange & Söhne and F.P. Journe to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe, including the various staff highlights featured below.

We have some good news and bad news to share.

The not-so-great news? Well, we're now in the heart of September, and it's fair to say that summer in the Northern Hemisphere is officially over.

The good news, however, is that a new watch auction season has just begun! We kicked off our first sale of the fall 2024 season with the Geneva Sessions, Fall 2024, online auction.

It's a fantastic catalog consisting of 70 total lots, mostly focused on special and rare modern timepieces, but there's naturally a number of vintage and neo-vintage gems interspersed throughout.

Our Geneva team of specialists and staffers couldn't be more excited to reveal the full catalog, but if you need some help in getting started, we're highlighting a number of what we think are the most underrated and interesting watches in the sale right here.

Lot 1: A 2020 A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia Automatik in 18k white gold with 'Terra Brown' dial
Estimate: CHF 12,000 - 24,000

Tiffany To, Head of Sale

My favourite watch in the sale is the Saxonia Automatik as it is the perfect example of how a brand can tweak small details to turn a watch from something attractive and well-made, to one that is extraordinary.

With an eye-catching 38.5 millimeter case in white gold and featuring an arresting "Terra Brown" dial, the present watch is an exceedingly rare and attractive edition of the classic Saxonia Automatic. Made to commemorate the grand reopening of A. Lange & Söhne's Ginza boutique in Tokyo in 2016, the model was released in highly limited numbers to the brand's very best and loyal clients. While not an official limited production run, very few examples were produced. Alongside the white gold case, the brand also launched the model in pink gold.

The "Terra Brown" dial itself is very attractive, and invigorates the classic model. A milky brown shade, it also has a beautiful sheen that comes from the solid silver base, which changes slightly in tone depending on the light.

Lot 30: A 2003 Urwerk UR-103 in 18k white gold
Estimate: CHF 20,000 - 40,000

Alexandre Ghotbi, Deputy Chairman, Watches, Head of Watches, Europe, and Middle East

The Urwerk 103 holds a special place in my heart as I perfectly remember the first time I saw one in a shop window, I was blown away in a totally irrational manner. Was it the case shape, the way time was read or the « control panel » on the back? I can’t pinpoint what it was but the watch spoke to me then and speaks to me 20 years later, which is the sign of its timelessness.

Lot 11: A 2017 Pascal Coyon Chronomètre in stainless steel
Estimate: CHF 5,000 - 10,000

Arthur Touchot, International Head Of Digital Strategy, Specialist