The Altr team were delighted to host the winners of the Altr giveaway campaign at the Monaco Legend Group’s Exclusive Timepieces auction in Monte Carlo on the 21 & 22nd of April. Both Altr and Monaco Legend Group are excited about their partnership and look forward to working closely together.
The auction demonstrated that the watch market is still incredibly robust, with new record sales totalling € 22.3 million across 259 lots. In recent times, the press and certain sectors of the watch market have been portraying a gloomy outlook for the performance of watches as assets. Whilst, indeed, some so-called ‘hype’ modern watches have certainly seen a cooling off in terms of secondary market pricing, the vast majority of vintage watches have in fact steadily grown in value. As we have said previously, not all vintage pieces are equal, and collectors and the wider market prefer watches that are both rare and of very high quality. Monaco Legend Group proved this to be the case with some outstanding results.
The sale took place over two days at Le Meridien Beach Plaza in Monte Carlo over three sessions, now Monaco Legend Group’s established location, for its twice-yearly sales. The team at Monaco Legend Group have created something exceptional with the sales now forming a three-day get-together for some of the most important and prolific watch collectors alongside passionate watch dealers and enthusiasts.
Monaco Legend Group Co-Chairman Davide Parmegiani was very upbeat about the sale: “This has been our best auction to date and, again, we had an incredible atmosphere with a group of amazing friends who we deeply appreciate. I am confident that Monaco Legend Group is growing in the right way and that we are now transforming how watches are sold and bought.”
The catalogue’s cover lot was the unique prototype Yacht-Master made for the Heiniger family — the watch sold for €2.3million. The Yacht-Master was made entirely in platinum, including its Oyster bracelet. The dial had diamond hour markers with baguette-cut sapphires at six and nine and a triangular-cut sapphire at 12 and was signed “DIX MILLIOIEME CHRONOMETRE” to celebrate the 10 millionth chronometer movement made by Rolex.
The Patek Philippe World Time reference 2523, which we discussed here, sold for an astonishing €2.9 million. As we discussed previously, this was only the second time this particular watch had been available on the market. The World Time reference 2523/1 is one of the most exclusive of all vintage Patek Philippe wristwatches. Only 15 examples were made in yellow gold, with the whereabouts of 10 pieces currently known.
Other stand-out lots were a Patek Philippe Nautilus from the personal collection of John Goldberger that sold for €1.3 million. The white gold reference 3700 was fresh to the market, having been in Goldberger’s collection for over two decades. Another piece from the collection of John Goldberger was an outstanding and beautiful “Tasti Tondi” chronograph in pink gold.
Altr is very proud to partner with Monaco Legend Group, and we will announce some exciting collaborations later in the year. A special shoutout to Hoodinki too for featuring Altr in their coverage of the auction.
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