The first full week of watch auction results for October 2026 is in, and its top price came on the last morning. At Phillips New York on October 9, lot 22, a Voutilainen 28Sport in stainless steel numbered 5 of 8, sold for $1,016,000 including buyer’s premium against an estimate of $120,000–240,000. Two days earlier at Sotheby’s Paris, lot 368, a Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” Ref. 6241 from circa 1968 that had never been offered on the market, sold for €448,000, about $500,700, against €120,000–260,000. It took 15 bids to get there.
Watch auction results October 2026: at Phillips New York on October 9, lot 22, a Voutilainen 28Sport in steel numbered 5 of 8, sold for $1,016,000 with premium on a $120,000–240,000 estimate. At Sotheby’s Paris, a fresh-to-market Paul Newman Daytona made €448,000 (about $500,700).
Paris was one of three timed online sales that closed within about 36 hours of one another. Christie’s Watches Online: Hong Kong Edit finished first, on October 7 Hong Kong time, with a sale total of HKD 23,125,632, about $2.95 million, and a top lot that outran its estimate many times over: an Eska pink gold wristwatch with a cloisonné enamel dial that made HKD 1,216,000, about $154,900, on an estimate of HKD 80,000–160,000.
Bonhams’ New York Watches sale followed at noon ET on October 8, led by an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Mini Frosted Gold” at $76,700. Dollar figures throughout are converted at the European Central Bank’s October 7 reference rates and are approximate.
We flagged the Daytona in our October auction preview as the lot doing the heavy lifting in Paris, and Phillips New York, which we previewed lot by lot, finished the week on Friday. The pattern is worth reading, because the biggest surprises rarely came from the biggest estimates.
Sotheby’s Paris
Sotheby’s describes lot 368 as recently discovered in a private European collection, where it had been kept away for decades. Its “black-on-black” Paul Newman dial sets clear white subsidiary counters and a red Daytona signature against a deep black main plate, under the black acrylic bezel that distinguished the 6241 from the steel-bezel 6239. Inside the 36mm steel case is the manual-winding calibre 722-1, and the watch sold on its Oyster bracelet with box, papers, a Rolex guarantee card, and presentation case.
Sotheby’s notes that both the 6239 and 6241 were initially overlooked before they became icons of vintage Rolex. Collectors stopped overlooking them long ago, and the hammer here, €350,000 before premium, cleared the high estimate by €90,000 in the Fine Watches sale, a timed online auction that began closing at 8 AM ET.
One lot earlier, F.P. Journe’s Centigraphe Souverain in platinum, circa 2014, sold for €307,200, about $343,400, just over its €150,000–300,000 estimate after seven bids. The hand-wound chronograph times events from a hundredth of a second up to 10 minutes, and Sotheby’s traces the collection to Journe’s meeting with Jean Todt, then executive director of Scuderia Ferrari, through the ICM brain and spinal cord institute, with the aim of building the ideal chronograph for motor racing. This one came with its papers and original box.
Two Rolex sports models carried the middle of the sale. A GMT-Master II Ref. 116749SABLNR from circa 2017, in 18k white gold with a blue and black sapphire- and diamond-set bezel, hammered at its €120,000 high estimate and sold for €153,600 with fees, about $171,700. A Sea-Dweller “Comex” Ref. 1665 from circa 1979, a reference Sotheby’s notes was issued to divers at the French firm COMEX rather than sold to the public, went for €102,400, about $114,500, on a single bid at its low estimate.
The bidding was busiest on smaller things. A Patek Philippe Lady Ellipse Ref. 4105/1 from circa 1970, a yellow gold secret watch set with diamonds and rubies, drew 27 bids and sold for €44,800, more than six times its €7,000 low estimate. A circa-1873 Patek Philippe & Co. grand complication pocket watch in yellow gold, with minute repeater, chronograph, perpetual calendar, and moon phases, made €57,600 against €15,000–30,000. And a brass Rolex desk clock from circa 2007 drew 30 bids, the most of any lot we could see, on its way to €7,040.
Hong Kong and New York
Christie’s Hong Kong produced the week’s steepest multiples. The Eska, lot 91, is a 34mm time-only watch in 18k pink gold with a manually wound movement and a cloisonné enamel dial, offered without box or papers, and 37 bids carried it to 15 times its low estimate.
Lot 177 went further. A Vacheron Constantin Ref. 49005/000P from circa 2002, a 38mm platinum perpetual calendar chronograph with a rose dial and a gold and lapis lazuli moon phase, sold for HKD 1,024,000, about $130,500, more than 25 times its HKD 40,000 low estimate after 44 bids.
A brief digression: the most-bid lot in Hong Kong was not a watch at all. Lot 93, an F.P. Journe aluminium bracelet with no watch attached, drew 79 bids and sold for HKD 307,200, about $39,100, against an estimate of HKD 24,000–45,000, and a Journe titanium bracelet right behind it made HKD 217,600.
Meanwhile, the two lots with the sale’s highest estimates sold inside them on thin bidding. A Patek Philippe Nautilus Ref. 5726/1A-001 annual calendar from circa 2017 made HKD 832,000, about $106,000, on four bids, and a Patek Philippe World Time Ref. 5131J-014, described as single sealed, with a cloisonné enamel dial depicting America, Europe, and Africa, made HKD 704,000, about $89,700, on two.
Bonhams worked on a smaller scale. Its top lot, number 103, was an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak “Mini Frosted Gold” Ref. 67630BA.GG.1312BA.01 from 2024, a 23mm quartz watch in 18k yellow gold textured with a diamond-tipped hammer, which sold for $76,700 against $50,000–70,000. A 1980s Breguet Classique Ref. 3130 BA in yellow gold, with calendar, moon phase, and power reserve, made $53,760 on an $8,000–12,000 estimate.
The H. Moser & Cie. Pioneer Tourbillon Miami we had flagged, numbered 1 of 28 and estimated at $50,000–70,000, did not sell, and neither did a 2026 Streamliner Genesis 2 from the same maker.
That leaves Phillips, which had the last word. Its New York Sessions Fall 2026 online sale closed on Friday, October 9, its 88 lots ending one minute apart from 10 AM ET, and lot 22 ran well past its range. The Voutilainen 28Sport, a 39mm stainless steel watch numbered 5 of 8, with a blue guilloché hour track around an onyx center that Phillips calls possibly one of only two made in this configuration, sold for $1,016,000 against $120,000–240,000, more than eight times its low estimate. It came from its original owner, complete with its 2021 certificate.
Independent watchmaking held the rest of the top tier. Two F.P. Journes made $304,800 each against $60,000–120,000, a pink gold Octa Lune with a salmon dial (lot 4) and a platinum lineSport Centigraphe Souverain (lot 40), and a platinum Octa Quantième Perpétuel (lot 55) made $241,300 on $70,000–140,000. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos Marqueterie “Gustav Klimt” clock (lot 39) cleared its high estimate at $152,400, while the Patek Philippe Ref. 5270J in yellow gold (lot 50), at $139,700, and the Rolex Daytona “Platona” Ref. 116506 (lot 23), at $101,600, landed inside theirs. All 88 lots sold.
In our view, the week says more about what collectors want than about how much they have. The steepest multiples went to watches that cannot simply be ordered again—a Voutilainen made in just eight steel examples, an enamel dial from a little-known maker, a 24-year-old Vacheron perpetual calendar chronograph in platinum, and a Daytona that spent decades out of sight—while the big-estimate modern Pateks in Hong Kong sold inside their ranges on a handful of bids and two 2026 Mosers at Bonhams found no buyer.
The money is still in the room. It is following the story, and on Friday morning it followed a steel Voutilainen past $1 million.
Timely FAQs
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