Patek Philippe split-seconds carries CHF 4m estimate at Phillips
The 1945 chronograph heads Phillips' Geneva Watch Auction XXIV on 7 and 8 November, a sale of more than 200 lots. An F.P. Journe carries CHF 1m to CHF 2m and a Paul Newman Daytona CHF 1.6m.
By The Watches Desk
What changed
Phillips set the estimate. A 1945 Patek Philippe split-seconds chronograph carries an upper estimate of CHF 4 million, or $4.9 million, at Phillips' Geneva Watch Auction XXIV.
What it means
- If you own a vintage Patek: the upper estimate is CHF 4 million. No low estimate is published.
- If you consign to the autumn season: this sale opens it, on 7 and 8 November.
- What this is not: a price. An estimate is the house's opinion before the room bids.
Key figures
| Top estimate$4.9m, upper end only | CHF 4m |
|---|---|
| Sale datesGeneva, with Bacs & Russo | 7-8 Nov |
| Timepieces offeredthe house's own count | 200+ |
| Rolex DaytonaPaul Newman dial, upper | CHF 1.6m |
Source: Phillips' announcement of the Geneva Watch Auction XXIV, as reported by Rapaport, 16 September 2026 · estimates in Swiss francs with Rapaport's dollar conversion
Patek leads the catalogue
Upper estimate only. The watch has a silver-toned dial with steel hour markers and a tachymeter scale. Phillips gives an upper estimate only, and no low estimate is published for it.
| Lot | Estimate | In dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Patek Philippe split-seconds chronograph, 1945 | CHF 4m upper | $4.9m |
| Rolex Daytona, yellow gold, Paul Newman dial | CHF 1.6m upper | $2m |
| Rolex, circa 1952, Stelline dial | CHF 1.2m upper | $1.5m |
| F.P. Journe, hand-engraved pink-gold dial | CHF 1m to CHF 2m | $1.2m to $2.4m |
| F.P. Journe, Tokyo boutique anniversary, 2007 | CHF 800,000 upper | $976,715 |
Notes on this table
Source. Phillips' announcement as reported by Rapaport on 16 September 2026.
Four of the five. lots are published with an upper estimate only; the F.P. Journe pink-gold dial is the one lot given as a band.
The dollar column. is Rapaport's conversion, not Carat Capital's, and is carried at the precision the source prints, which is why one row reads $976,715 and the rest read to one decimal.
No reserve. and no low estimate is published for the Patek.
Two Rolexes and two Journes
Journe carries a band. An F.P. Journe wristwatch with a hand-engraved pink-gold dial carries CHF 1 million to CHF 2 million.
Rolex takes two places. A yellow-gold Daytona with a Paul Newman dial carries CHF 1.6 million, and a 1952 Rolex with a Stelline dial CHF 1.2 million.
The autumn season opens here
Two days, 200 lots. The sale runs on 7 and 8 November with more than 200 timepieces, held with Bacs & Russo, and opens the autumn live season.
The last Geneva sale. Phillips' Geneva Watch Auction XXIII realised $96.3 million in May.
What to watch
- Before 7 November 2026Phillips' full catalogue, and whether a low estimate is published for the Patek.
- 7-8 November 2026The sale itself, and whether the CHF 4 million upper estimate is met.
- November 2026The F.P. Journe Resonance serial 022, offered in the same month by another house.
The story so far
Go deeper
What would change this call
A published low estimate. An upper figure alone says what the house hopes for and nothing about what it will let the lot go for, and the low is the number that governs the room.
Why an upper estimate alone tells you less
Auction houses normally publish a band. The low estimate is the anchor: it sits at or near the reserve, and it is the number a bidder works back from. The high is the ceiling the specialist thinks the piece can reach on a good day. When only the high is published, as here on four of the five lots, the reader is given the ceiling and not the floor, and the spread that carries most of the information is withheld until the catalogue is complete. That is a normal stage of an auction announcement rather than a concealment, but it means no ratio can be computed yet for this sale.
Method
Rapaport's report of 16 September 2026 is the source for the lots, the estimates and the dates, and it attributes them to Phillips' own announcement of Tuesday 15 September. The dollar figures are Rapaport's conversion and are printed at its own precision rather than recomputed at a rate this desk cannot date. The $96.3 million comparison for the previous Geneva sale comes from this paper's own coverage of 9 July 2026 and is linked where it is used. ARCHIVE: Phillips Geneva Watch Auction - ours of 2026-07-09 covers the SPRING 2026 season, including Geneva Watch Auction XXIII in May at $96.3 million; this item covers the AUTUMN 2026 season and the separate XXIV sale of 7 and 8 November. DIFFERENT SALE AND DIFFERENT PERIOD, so NEW. Three archive hits for the phrase Geneva Watch Auction were opened and read rather than counted; the third, of 19 July 2026, concerns an F.P. Journe Resonance consigned to a different house in November and is named in what to watch rather than conflated with this catalogue.