Cartier Portico No. 4 sells for CHF 4.8m, 22.5% above No. 3

The 1924 mystery clock hammered at CHF 3.9 million against a CHF 3.6 million high estimate at Phillips in Geneva. The house says every lot in the two-day sale sold, and calls the clock a Cartier record.

By Carat Capital

9 November 2026

What changed

The clock cleared its estimate. Phillips sold the Cartier Portico Mystery Clock for CHF 4,815,000 in Geneva on 8 November, including premium. Its CHF 3.9 million hammer was 8.3% above the high estimate.

What it means

If you value Cartier objects: No. 4 made 22.5% more than No. 3's CHF 3,932,000 of May 2025, both with premium.
If you consign to Geneva: Phillips says every lot sold, for CHF 92,045,568.
What this is not: a price trend. It is one clock against one sister, at one house.

Key figures

Sold For, lot 220includes premium	CHF 4,815,000
Hammerhigh estimate CHF 3.6m	CHF 3,900,000
Hammer over high estimateCarat Capital's division	+8.3%
Against Portico No. 3CHF 3,932,000 in May 2025, Sold For	+22.5%
Sale total, Phillips says217 lots offered, 217 sold	CHF 92,045,568

Source: Phillips, Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV, lot 220, sold 8 November 2026; lot page and sale page read 9 November 2026 · Sold For includes buyer's premium; estimates and hammer exclude it

The hammer beat the estimate.

Estimates exclude premium. Phillips sets estimates on the hammer, so the hammer is the like-for-like test. It cleared the CHF 3.6 million high estimate and made 2.2 times the CHF 1.8 million low.

Premium added CHF 915,000. The house's schedule is cumulative and took the price to CHF 4.8 million. Carat Capital's arithmetic on it matches the gap between the hammer and the Sold For to the franc.

Lot 220 against its estimate and its sisterSwiss francs · Phillips lot page and releases · premium is Carat Capital's arithmetic on the lot page's schedule

Line	CHF	Basis
Low estimate	1,800,000	excludes premium
High estimate	3,600,000	excludes premium
Hammer	3,900,000	winning bid
Buyer's premium	915,000	27% of hammer up to CHF 1.6m, 21% above
Sold For	4,815,000	hammer plus premium
Portico No. 3, May 2025	3,932,000	Sold For, Phillips' 27 October release

Sources. Phillips' lot 220 page for the estimate, hammer and Sold For; Phillips' 27 October release for No. 3.

No. 4 outsold its sister.

Six were made. Cartier made six Portico mystery clocks between 1923 and 1925, Phillips says. No. 4, from 1924, is the only one with a hexagonal dial.

Last offered in 1996. The clock belonged to Alain Cartier, grandson of Louis Cartier, and was last offered in 1996, Phillips says. The house calls the result a world auction record for any Cartier timepiece.

Phillips counts a CHF 92m sale.

Every lot sold. Phillips says all 217 lots sold for CHF 92,045,568, including premium. The house calls it the first live watch auction above US$100 million.

The lots add up. The 216 Sold For prices on the sale page sum to CHF 92,045,567, one franc under the house figure. One lot, a box offered on a condition, shows no price.

Serial 022 sold. The F.P. Journe Résonance serial 022 sold for CHF 4,936,000 in the same session.

Journe led the makers. Phillips says 13 F.P. Journe watches made CHF 31.8 million across the sale.

What to watch

13 November 2026Richemont, which owns Cartier, reports interim results. The test: what the group says about Cartier.
Next Cartier clock at auctionThe next Portico or mystery clock offered. The test: whether it, too, hammers above its high estimate.

The story so far

8 November 2026The first session: a Journe Résonance sold for CHF 8,680,500, a Patek for CHF 6,267,000.
3 November 2026Phillips estimated lot 220 at CHF 1.8m to 3.6m, corrected on 8 November from 3.2m.
19 July 2026Phillips would offer the Journe Résonance serial 022 in this sale.

Go deeper

What would change this call

One clock is one room of bidders. If the next Cartier mystery clock offered hammers inside its estimate, this result reads as a single contest for a rare object, not a re-rating of Cartier's 1920s clocks.

How a Phillips price is built

The hammer is the winning bid. Phillips adds a buyer's premium on a cumulative basis: 27% of the hammer up to CHF 1,600,000, 21% of the portion from there to CHF 7,000,000, and 14.5% above. For lot 220: 0.27 x 1,600,000 = 432,000; 0.21 x (3,900,000 - 1,600,000) = 483,000; 432,000 + 483,000 = 915,000; 3,900,000 + 915,000 = 4,815,000. Estimates are set on the hammer.

Method

Phillips' lot 220 page, https://www.phillips.com/detail/cartier/237488, read 9 November 2026 with an identifying user agent, 200, 209,768 bytes: 'soldPrice',4815000,'hammerPrice',3900000 (1 hit each); 'Sold For' label 'CHF4,815,000' (1 hit); estimate line 'CHF1,800,000–3,600,000'; the premium schedule quoted above; 'Alain Cartier' 2 hits; '1996' 5 hits. The sale page, https://www.phillips.com/auction/CH080426, read 9 November, 200, 2,606,328 bytes: 216 'Sold For' labels summing to CHF 92,045,567; lot 125 'Pre Production 022/99', estimate CHF 500,000–1,000,000, Sold For CHF 4,936,000. Phillips' results release (6 pages, saved by the auctions desk, 547,393 bytes, text read 9 November): 'Sale Total: CHF 92,045,568', 'Lots Sold: 217 | Lots Offered: 217', 'A new world record achieved for a Cartier timepiece at auction', '13 watches totaling CHF 31.8 million'. Phillips' 27 October release, read 9 November, 200, 326,174 bytes: No. 3 'sold at The Geneva Watch Auction: XXI in May 2025' and 'for CHF 3,932,000'. Ratios, Carat Capital's: 3,900,000 / 3,600,000 = 1.0833 -> 8.3% above the high estimate (hammer); 3,900,000 / 1,800,000 = 2.17; 4,815,000 / 3,932,000 = 1.2246 -> 22.5% above No. 3 (both Sold For). The record and the US$100 million claims are Phillips'; they are attributed, not verified against other houses. Lot 189, a box offered on a condition, carries no Sold For on its lot page; whether it was withdrawn or awarded is not established, so the page states neither.

Sources4