Rarest Patek Philippe Watches You've Ever Seen!

Hello and welcome on WATCHES TV and today we're here at the Maison de l'Horlogerie in the context more or less of the Geneva Watch Days and we're with our good friend Ale Nael and we are here because you're showcasing a preview of the 50 timepieces that you're putting on auction. So mainly wristwatches but also some important pocket watches and not only that. So tell us a little bit about the collection that you're putting forward now. It's basically a thematic sale, Patek Philippe thematic sale. All these watches, we collected them for many, many years, some of them for 10 years, for 12 years. So at Future Grail, our new business auction house that we presented to the market, we're making thematic sale of very highly expertised collection of 50 lots of only Patek Philippe. And these watches, indeed, you've been collecting them for, like you said, many, many years. Isn't it a little bit complicated to, well, say bye bye? Well, I made a promise to collectors because many people ask me, is this for sale? Is that for sale? I've offended a lot of collectors over the years, so I apologize from you. This is one of the ways I can say sorry to them for not being able to let go these pieces for five years, eight years, 10 years, 12 years. They have connections. Every watch have a connection, but I'm happy to see them all come together so they can highlight and how to say, shine with each other. So I'm very happy. And how did you select those 50 pieces? I tried to do pocket watches in different complications, so different sections on the pocket watches from time only to minute repeaters to complications. And same thing with the wrist watches, of course, manual. We also look at the movements, so manual winding, shaped watches, of course, round watches, Calatravas, then automatic Calatravas, chronographs, split seconds, and perpetual calendars. Arnaud, I guess we could talk probably 15, 30 minutes from each and single watch part of this auction, but unfortunately we don't have that time. So could you just maybe pick four or five highlights of this auction and tell us what is so special about them? In this selection of 50 pieces, you will find watches from the mid of the 19th century to the late 1980s. It's a nice retrospective of the Patek Philippe production, including pocket watches and wrist watches, some of them with horological complications, some of them what we call now time only. And it's a really nice representation of all the production made by Patek Philippe since more than 150 years. Personally, of course, I'm in love with some of the pocket watches, including minute repeater, perpetual calendar. But probably my favorite is the one we put on the front cover of the catalog, a really nice wrist watch made by Patek Philippe with a perpetual calendar and a central second. And this auction is currently taking place until the 14th of September, correct? So the exhibition in Geneva is from 29th to 2nd of September, and we also will be exhibiting in Dubai, so please join us in Dubai at Opera Gallery on the 6th to the 9th of September. And the auction is actually running from the 1st online, so you can start bidding on the 1st and do the close on the 14th of September. It's all online. All right. So talking about the pieces themselves, are there special ones that mean a lot to you and why? I guess I mean all of them, of course, but I mean if you have to, just talk about a few. For me now, the target is to find the rightful owners for these pieces that will appreciate these pieces as much as I did, but of course also know what they are buying. The idea is to present this auction is to make sure that people know what they are buying from quality perspective. That's why we encourage people to come to the previews, to look at the watches, but also we give them detailed pictures, condition reports. We want to give that advantage to the collectors and give them the choice. Of course, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have these watches all together in one auction presented in this way. Most of them are unique, one-on-one, one-of-three, one-of-four, so it's a great opportunity for the market and that's why the interest is very high. We receive a lot of explainers already from Mali, but we are also here in Geneva and in Dubai. We can also make some appraisal, free appraisal for the watches you have from your collection, not only Patek. Of course, we have in this auction some clocks, including a fabulous Dome clock, which was especially made by Patek Philippe for the 700th anniversary of the Swiss-Compagny Russian with a Sermon du Grütli. Very, very important. Yes, a very nice one with a cloisonné enamel panel. Coming back on the wristwatches, are there some really special ones that you would like to highlight? One of my favorites is one of the Art Deco sector dial chronograph, reference 130, which was a really nice dial made in the late 1930s, 1938 roughly. About the quality of making of the dial, it's one of my favorite pieces. Quickly talking about the documentation of each of these pieces, because there is a lot of information available. How do you perform all this kind of research job, basically? With all the knowledge we have now from Patek Philippe, including, of course, the books published on the manufacturer, and some research made by some scholars like me, all of the watches are fully described, and of course in the online catalog version, you will find a lot of photos, photographs, including photos of the movement, and you can really have a good idea of the quality of the Patek Philippe production. Of course, if you drop by Geneva during the Geneva Watch Days, I clearly invite you to come because it's a really rare opportunity of seeing so many watches at the same time and in such an impeccable condition. But if you can't do that, or you can't be in Dubai, I have to say that the documentation that you've done around the watches, and this can be seen on your website and the description, is really quite thorough and transparent. You've done quite an incredible archiving job there. We're just making justice for the watches, to be honest, because sometimes... Usually we see in an auction two, three, four nice Calatrava, so it's nice to have everything together, and we did really work tirelessly to present them to the best of our knowledge to the clients. Well, congratulations on putting those watches together, and best of luck for those who are willing to bid and are going to be happy new owners, I guess. Just register online, get in touch with us for more detailed pictures and anything you need from us, and then we'll help you through the process. All right, well, thank you so much, and see you real soon. Bye.