Missing, Ultra-Rare Watches Appear at Auction

Imagine Dominic Khoo’s dismay when he discovered his company’s rare watches listed and sold at an Antiquorum auction.

The prominent watch collector and dealer had entered into investment agreements for 24 timepieces—including pièce uniques from Girard-Perregaux, Hautlence, and Moritz Grossmann—to business partners in Hong Kong.

His trust in his business partners was repaid with lawsuits from these parties and their associates, who alleged that he had sold them the watches at inflated prices, even as they marketed watches including these pieces, using Khoo’s copyrighted data and PowerPoint slides.

The Singapore High Court subsequently dismissed the fraud allegations and affirmed that legal title over the watches belonged to Khoo’s company. The Singapore court judgment also contained an order for specific performance, whereby Khoo’s company would re-purchase the watches from these individuals.

While awaiting the return of his watches, Khoo was startled to see these prized timepieces slated for sale in Antiquorum’s ‘Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces’ auction on November 30^th 2025.

Ironically, these watches the plaintiffs had described as “unsellable” mostly achieved six-figure final bids. Four more of Khoo’s watches have surfaced and will be up for bids at Antiquorum’s next Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces on May 31^st 2026.

Khoo noticed that these watches had been sold with reissued papers and replaced boxes. Their original boxes and papers are still in Khoo’s possession.

Haute Time has reached out to Antiquorum for comment.

Subsequently, Khoo offered the plaintiffs over HK$30 million to recover the watches from them, but the offer was not taken up.

“The offer I put together was stonewalled,” he adds. “The watches then started turning up both privately and at auction with reissued papers and replaced boxes. In a market built on provenance, every collector should be asking how that’s possible. Dozens of my watches are still unaccounted for.”

Coincidentally, Khoo had cut his teeth as a watch expert at Antiquorum Geneva early in his career, and later had a convertible loan with Antiquorum USA.

“I’ve spent decades as an academic learning about complicated mechanical watches. The humbling lesson here is that studying people who claim to be simple, can be much harder.”

Here’s a closer look at these ultra-rare timepieces that have been put on auction.

Maîtres Du Temps Chapter 3: estimated at HK$150,000 to 300,000, sold for HK$800,000 on November 30^th 2025. This 18k pink gold timepiece marks a rare collaboration between two of the industry’s most talented watchmakers, Andreas Strehler and Kari Voutilainen. It features a second time zone, day/night indication, along with moonphase and date indicated by Maîtres du Temps’ signature roller displays, on a dial guilloched by Kari Voutilainen. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

Girard-Perregaux Skeleton Minute Repeater Pièce Unique: estimated at HK$350,000 to 700,000, sold for HK$1,750,000 on November 30^th 2025. This one-of-one chiming watch in 18k white gold harks back to a time when Girard-Perregaux experimented with the ‘regulator’ style dial layout. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

Daniel Roth Ellipsocurvex Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar: estimated at HK$350,000 to 700,000, sold for HK$2,000, 000 on November 30^th 2025. Sporting a 18K pink gold case and mother-of-pearl dial, this 2003/2004 timepiece was the first automatic tourbillon watch made by the brand and the first to integrate both the perpetual calendar and tourbillon complications. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

HD3 Raptor Tourbillon: estimated at HK$100,000 to 200,000, sold for HK$137,500 on November 30^th 2025. Created by lauded Swiss designer Fabrice Gonet, this 33-piece limited-edition flips open to reveal a tourbillon, chronograph, GMT function, time and date. It is rarer still to find an edition that has had its 18k white gold case blacked out by PVD coating. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

Moritz Grossmann Benu Tourbillon: estimated at HK$600,000 to 1,200,000, sold for HK$725,000 on November 30^th 2025. Within the 18k white gold case of this pièce unique, its Caliber 103.0 comprises a flying three-minute tourbillon, stop-seconds mechanism and proprietary Moritz Grossmann winding mechanism. An important milestone in 21st century watchmaking, the Benu Tourbillon was Moritz Grossmann’s first tourbillon watch, and marks the manufacture’s endeavor to build a 19th-century-style Glashütte movement using untreated German silver plates. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

Corum Admiral’s Cup Legend 45: estimated at HK$220,000 to 400,000, to be auctioned on May 31^st 2026. Limited to 15 examples, this titanium timepiece allows a glimpse of its tourbillon and minute repeater through its smoked sapphire dial. A modern reinterpretation of Corum’s long-running nautical-themed Admiral’s Cup collection, it is built around the brand’s distinctive 12-sided case and sailing-inspired design language. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

Bulgari Diagono Tourbillon: estimated at HK$220,000 to 400,000, to be auctioned on May 31^st 2026. Housed in a 42mm platinum case, this manual-winding tourbillon wristwatch is limited to 30 pieces. This manually wound tourbillon wristwatch is one of the early expressions of Bulgari’s in-house haute horlogerie push in the 2000s, before the Octo era defined its modern identity. It is emblematic of an era when Bulgari was transitioning from jewelry house to serious watchmaker/ Photo credit: Antiquorum

Ulysse Nardin San Marco Jacquemart Minute Repeater: estimated at HK$300,000 to 500,000, to be auctioned on May 31^st 2026. An 18k yellow gold case complements the blue guilloché and enamel dial of this chiming watch. Unlike most minute repeaters and their discreet hammers, this timepiece has engraved jacquemard sculptures that strike its gongs. The renowned Renaud-Papi Claret partnership was inspired by Piazza San Marco’s clock tower in Venice to engineer this retrospective movement. / Photo credit: Antiquorum

Hautlence HL2: estimated at HKD 220,000 to 500,000, to be auctioned on May 31^st 2026. Crafted in titanium, this pièce unique features jumping hours shown on a moving “chain” of linked plates that advances in steps each hour, and retrograde minutes that sweep across a 180-degree arc and snap back to zero at the top of the hour. / Photo credit: Antiquorum