Highlights: A Dizzying Array of Tourbillons at Phillips Hong Kong | SJX Watches

Phillips’ fall auction season goes east for The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XXIII from November 21-22 with a whirlwind of tourbillon watches from the golden age of (pocket) watchmaking to the new golden age of today.

A collaboration between Audemars Piguet and contemporary artist KAWS, the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon makes its auction house debut. And thanks to a specially modified movement, the “Companion” is more than a superficial exercise in branding. The cal. 2979 uses peripheral indicators to display the hours and minutes, rather than hands, which would be ruinous for this design.

The Companion figure is cold, hard titanium to match the case, but conveys the squishiness of a cartoon character, making it look as if the Companion is pressed against the sapphire crystal. The puffy-motif is continued by a decorative movement plate visible through the sapphire case back, which leaves very little of the movement underneath visible. Underneath is essentially the same, manually wound movement powering the brand’s Marvel collaborations, with a one-minute tourbillon and 72 hours of going.

As KAWS-forward as it is, the familiar Royal Oak Concept case makes it easily recognisable as an Audemars Piguet product. While only playing a supporting role, the titanium case is more detailed than many Royal Oak Concepts, surprisingly water resistant for a manually wound watch (100 m) with a quick-change strap system to swap between the two included straps.

Despite facing much social media derision, demand for Audemars Piguet’s collaboration watches has been strong, resulting in an estimate of HK$1.5 – 2.5 million (US$192,000 – 321,000), exceeding the original retail price.

Launched in 2002, to follow up the mostly identical but scantly produced RM001, the RM002 was the watch that really launched the Richard Mille brand. Developed by Audemars Piguet Renaud Papi, and closely related to that in the Audemars Piguet CW1, the movement inside remains one of the coolest tourbillon calibres ever made, most famous for its extreme shock resistance.

Not only is the entire movement mounted on rubber shock absorbers, readers will also note the use of ceramic pivots for the tourbillon rather than more fragile ruby.

This is the second generation of the movement, featuring a carbon fibre composite main plate — an industry first. The functionality is otherwise the same, featuring a push-button function selector in the crown to toggle between winding, setting, and neutral, power reserve display, and a dynamographe, which displays the actual torque produced by the mainspring.

While Richard Mille is an infamously expensive brand today, some early Richard Mille watches can be had for almost reasonable prices…for now. In fact, the estimate of HK$1.5 – 3 million (US$192,000 – 385,000) is far below the price of a new Richard Mille tourbillon, and the RM002 is arguably one of the most influential and attractive watches of the 21st century. Also, this example is freshly serviced by Richard Mille and remains under warranty.

At just 24 years old, Théo Auffret, winner of the 2018 F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition, transformed his prize-winning prototype into the Tourbillon à Paris Souscription, a limited series that financed the establishment of his own workshop.

Like many of the most promising names in contemporary French watchmaking, Mr Auffret emerged from the renowned watchmaking school in Morteau before refining his skills under respected craftsmen, notably Jean-Baptiste Viot in Paris and Luca Soprana at Ateliers 7h38.

The influence of classical French watchmaking is evident throughout the Tourbillon à Paris. The watch itself is a regulator-style tourbillon powered by a hand-wound movement of Mr Auffret’s own design, originally done with pen and paper for the prototype.

Mr Auffret adopted more scalable methods to bring this 20-piece run to market, including CNC milling and outsourced cases, but the quality is no worse for it (and perhaps even better).

Despite the explosion of demand for independent watchmaking, the estimate is rather tame at HK$900,000 – 1.8 million (US$115,000 – 231,000).

The central flying tourbillon is Beat Haldimann’s signature complication, beginning with the original H1 in 2002. While central balances are problematic in a pocket watch, as any axial movement about the centre of the watch has the greatest effect on the balance, this isn’t an issue for a wristwatch.

Mr Haldimann is a noted enthusiast of pre-digital manufacturing, without a single CNC machine in his workshop. Yet his operation is more capable than the average independent. The distinctive Haldibloc shock absorber, for example, is of his own design and manufacture.

This particular H1 — recently serviced by Haldimann in 2023 — was one of just eight watches built for members of the influential PuristS watch forum, now WatchProSite.

The first batch of four watches featured the numbers 1, 7, and 8 in red, which together form the phononym for “prosper together” in Chinese. This watch, part of the second series and sold by the original owner, has only a red twelve instead. The estimate stands at HK$1 – 2 million (US$128,000 – 256,000).

One of about 60 “third series” Tourbillon Souverains, this 38 mm example features a solid yellow gold dial, protected by clear lacquer to preserve its luster, on which the floating dial text is printed. First sold in 2001, this is one of the more desirable configurations of one of today’s most desirable watches, with perhaps a dozen or so made, and only nine known to the market.

F.P. Journe watches are perhaps the only instance where brass is worth more than gold. While the rhodium-plated brass calibre was less expensive to manufacture than the 18k rose gold version that followed, it was not the full realisation of François-Paul Journe’s vision. That said, the rarity of these early brass movements commands a premium.

This is one of the catalogue’s top lots, with a rather wide estimate range of HK$3.9 – 11.6 million (US$500,000 – 1.49 million).

An important moment for Audemars Piguet’s contentious collection, the Code 11.59 Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph stands as perhaps the strongest expression yet of the Code 11.59. The watch succeeds largely because it avoids the bland dials of early Code 11.59 models and puts the movement centre stage.

Audemars Piguet is known for its skeletonised watches, and this is no exception. The plenitude of sharp inner angles, while probably not fully executed by hand, gives the openworking a high-end look, and Audemars Piguet’s tourbillon cages aren’t bad looking either.

Fortunately for bidders, the HK$600,000 – 1.1 million (US$76,900 – 141,000) estimate is well below the retail price, a perk of the Code 11:59 being the less favoured member of Audemars Piguet’s stable.

Tourbillons were once seen as the pinnacle of watchmaking, despite being relatively easy to manufacture. The reputation came not from the tourbillon itself, but rather from the many exceptional watches it could be found in, such as this pocket chronometer.

The device was perfect match for Plantamour-type rating systems used in chronometry trials, which emphasised consistency across positions, and there the tourbillon built its reputation, certificate by certificate. Ernest Guinand contributed to many of those movements, including many of Girard-Perregaux’s tourbillons with three gold bridges.

Many firms or individual makers had their own style of tourbillon bridges and cages, today classified according to Reinhard Meis’s naming scheme. This is a Guinand 2 style cage, with a pivoted detent escapement. Despite some recent outliers, pocket watch prices remain depressed overall, a fact reflected in the HK$120,000 – 240,000 (US$15,400 – 30,800) estimate.

The brainchild of Eric Coudray, now a notable independent watchmaker, Jaeger Le-Coultre’s Gyrotourbillon was one of the first multi-axis tourbillon wristwatches, and the most dramatic. Launched in 2004, during the brand’s complications renaissance, the Gyrotourbillon 1’s tourbillon is composed of two cages with perpendicular axes of rotation.

Despite its name, Gyrotourbillon 1 is much more than its titular tourbillon. It will run for at least eight days on a full wind, powered by a pair of massive mainspring barrels with sapphire covers and bases for reduced friction. It also features a retrograde perpetual calendar, with two hands sharing the date indication, with one handing over to the other on the 17th, as if passing through the time dial.

The sapphire dial displays the differential behind the running equation of time, which is the best form of the equation of time complication which is “calibrated” to Kuala Lumpur per the lot essay, but a watchmaker can adjust this to any location by repositioning the equation hand, without cutting new cams.

Unlike some later Gyrotourbillons, this one is not as large as you might think at 43 mm in diameter. It also features the desirable “No. 8” serial number. If the HK$400,000 – 800,000 (US$51,300 – 103,000) estimate is to be believed, this watch, which is also made of white gold and set with 114 baguette-cut diamonds (6.7 carats in total) represents incredible value for money.

Jaeger-LeCoultre launched the next Gyrotourbillon in the iconic Reverso case. This was more than just a heart transplant, as the tourbillon itself has seen some upgrades.

The outer cage now rotates once per minute, up from twice in five minutes, while the inner cage rotates once in only 18.75 seconds. As with the Gyrotourbillon 1, development was enabled by powerful computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD and CAM) tools, which were still relatively new to watchmaking at the time.

Made from aluminum, the cage weighs a third of a gram, and was milled on a 5-axis CNC machine. Inside is a solid-gold free-sprung balance on a cylindrical balance spring.

While Jaeger-LeCoultre’s movement finishing is often quite industrial, that is far from the case for this watch, with smooth rounded bevelling executed by hand, pyramide guilloche, and many coveted sharp interior angles. The identical estimate of HK$400,000 – 800,000 (US$51,300 – 103,000) makes this an attractive value buy despite its larger footprint.

The third entry in the Gyrotourbillon saga brought a new complication, the chronograph, as well as a flying version of the Gyrotourbillon. While the chronograph’s operation is normal, with a single button to start, stop and reset, its minutes totaliser is unique. It is an instantaneous digital display that uses what resembles an outsized date to tally the minutes.

As mentioned, the Gyrotourbillon has been freed of its upper bridge and is now ‘flying’ while retaining the cylindrical balance spring of the second generation. Decoration remains high-end and artisanal, with the German silver bridges and plates giving the white metal watch welcome warmth. Again, the estimate is a tantalising HK$400,000 – 800,000 (US$51,300 – 103,000).

Preview and auction

The sale and preview exhibition will take place at Phillips Hong Kong in the West Kowloon Cultural District.

Preview

Open daily November 16-22, 2026, from 10:00 am-7:00 pm

Auction

November 21 – 12:00 pm (Session I lots 801 – 958)

November 22 – 12:00 pm (Session II lots 959 – 1129)

(All times are local to Hong Kong, GMT+8.)

G/F WKCDA Tower

West Kowloon Cultural District

8 Austin Road West

Kowloon, Hong Kong

For the full catalogue, visit Phillips.com.

This was brought to you in partnership with Phillips.

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