Rare Dufour chiming watch seen fetching $2 million at auction

A unique chiming wristwatch made by Swiss independent producer Philippe Dufour will go to public auction for the first time in December and is expected to fetch at least $2 million in a sale that will test the market for rare and expensive timepieces. 

The Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie features a clear sapphire crystal dial and a white gold case with a hinged back. It’s one of only eight wristwatches with the highly uncommon chiming complication made by the watchmaker, and one of just three with an open dial exhibiting the striking chime mechanism. 

“It is among the most important, if not the most significant version of any wristwatch he has created,” Paul Boutros, deputy chairman and head of watches for the Americas at Phillips, said in an interview.

The auction house says it expects the watch to sell “in excess of $2 million,” the highest estimate Phillips has ever assigned to a watch for a New York sale. An enamel dial version, previously owned by the Sultan of Brunei, was sold by watch dealer and auctioneer A Collected Man for $7.6 million in 2021, the highest price ever paid for a wristwatch made by an independent producer. 

Demand for rare and pricey watches has softened since soaring to record levels in 2021 and 2022. Boutros said the number of bidders registered for Phillips watch auctions has doubled since before the pandemic, even as speculators who jumped into the market trying to make quick profits at the height of the boom have largely exited.

“We still see an insatiable demand from experienced collectors seeking the very best and this watch is among the very best timepieces ever created,” he said.

Considered the pinnacle of horological complications, the grande and petite sonnerie had previously only been used in larger pocket watches until 1992, when Dufour became the first to produce a wristwatch version. The timepiece took him two-and-a-half years to complete. 

The complication features a minute repeater that can chime the time on command as well as two “sonnerie” modes that, when enabled, passively chime the time as it passes using small hammers in the movement, much like a tiny grandfather clock. 

Before striking out on his own, Dufour made pocket watch versions of the grande and petite sonnerie for Audemars Piguet. Since he produced the wristwatch version, other Swiss brands, including Patek Philippe SA, have also made wristwatches with grande and petite sonnerie complications.

Born in 1948, in Switzerland’s Vallée de Joux, Dufour has made only about 250 watches from his workshop in the region.