This story originally appeared in Esquire's 'About Time' newsletter, style director Johnny Davis’s straight-talking take on the wonderful world of watches. Sign up here.
A few weeks ago, the writer and watches newsletter OG Anthony Traina took to his Instagram with a message for 2024.
“Let’s talk about one trend I hope to see more of this year,” he said, while SZA’s ‘Saturn’ played pleasantly in the background.
“The return of Art Deco. I wanna see even more shapes and geometry. Bold colours and high contrast. Ornate numerals and fancy lugs. I still love the minimalism of mid-century modern. But let’s bring back the glamour of Art Deco.”
He isn’t alone. Something is in the air.
After a decade’s dominance of blokey steel sports watches, fashion’s fickle wheel has spun again – back to the decades before today’s consensus of good taste. Blingy, blocky timepieces are heading back into vogue, and if they come with a vermeer dial or on a gold bracelet shaped like a snake, so much the better.
With a musician’s expert timing Elton John chose last month to auction off a lifetime’s collection of heroically OTT watches, a sale that included a leopard-print Rolex Daytona, an 18k gold Chopard Imperiale chronograph and a white gold and diamond-set A. Lange & Söhne 'Saxonia' – and duly crushed every estimate listed in the Christie’s catalogue.
Elsewhere, the most-hyped watch of Q1 has been a recreation of a gold-on-gold 1979 Piaget once pitched – by Piaget itself – as ‘the world’s most expensive watch’. Ebay's 'Top Watch Trends of 2024' points to a 45% increase in searches for 'exotic stone dial' Rolex Day-Dates.
Your correspondent has had advance notice of a couple more big brand releases due later this year, and they confirm the trend – quiet luxury is on the retreat.
Bling is back.
Into this febrile atmosphere comes next month’s auction at Sotheby’s.
Rough Diamonds.
It is quite unlike any auction – of watches, or anything else – you’ve ever seen.
Its poster resembles the tour t-shirt for a 1960s soft rock band knowingly reappropriated by a Noughties dance act.
The sale has been put together in collaboration with Heist-Out, a French duo described as a ‘watch and creative collective’ who make a vintage-filled glossy magazine of the same name, pitched as ‘a playground for creative ideas and uninhabited nonconformism’. (Or ‘le magazine le plus punk de l’horlogerie’, as Europa Star describes it.)
Oh, and the auction is going to take place underground – in a Swiss cave.
The 24 lots in Rough Diamonds sit somewhere between watches, jewellery and objets d’art. They are made-up of curiosities from decades gone by, of ‘rare and disruptive’ avant-garde releases from the top table of Swiss watchmaking.
They include a yellow gold and diamond-set Vacheron Constantin bracelet watch with a trapezoidal dial and a design inspired by the sun’s rays. A dinky Audemars Piguet in the shape of little car, made from emeralds and diamonds. And the showstopper – a 1962 set of Patek Philippe oddities, comprising a matching bracelet watch, a ring and a necklace, all made from white gold, decorated with enamel and set with pearls.
All in all, it is quite something.
We spoke with Heist-Out’s founders, Maxime Couturier and Lorenzo Maillard, as well as Manon Hagie, Sotheby’s sales director, watches, about the upcoming sale.
ABOUT TIME: Whose idea was Rough Diamonds?
Lorenzo Maillard: Sotheby’s contacted us because they were eager to do something different. They thought of us, probably, because we were the outcasts of the industry. We like quirky and differently designed watches and we’ve previously put the spotlight on them, in the different projects we’ve done.
Maxime Couturier: A lot of people say they want to do crazy stuff and shake things up. Very often it’s not true. But Sotheby’s has been a firm believer in the vision. It’s been great.
Were the watches hard to track down?
Manon Hagie: Actually, yes. We really had to find new people, new dealers – because [these watches] are still overlooked. There’s not a lot of dealers in possession of pieces like this. Most of them are private individuals.
Which one was the toughest to secure?
Manon Hagie: The first one. It came from [a contact in] our jewellery department and it’s the top lot – the Patek Philippe designed by [acclaimed Swiss jeweller] Gilbert Albert, and it comes in a set. The watch, the ring and the necklace. It was right at the beginning; we had no lots for the sale. I really had to convince the consignor and explain the whole concept. It was an older lady, she didn’t really understand. Also, the Patek ref. 4239/1J – it’s kind-of a bangle watch, super-nice. I think there’s less than 10 pieces [in existence]. It was quite hard to convince that consignor, also.
This sale is the start of something, isn’t it?
Manon Hagie: This is a test. If it’s successful, we’ll get more pieces. [We know that] people are holding onto them. They’re waiting to see the results. But I feel like these pieces really need to be celebrated for the craftsmanship and the rarity.
Are they for men, or for women? Or is that old-fashioned thinking?
Manon Hagie: This is also something new. Now we see women wearing men’s watches and men wearing women’s watches – like Timothée Chalamet wearing a Cartier Crash with diamonds. So, it’s unisex. I always checked with the Heist-Out team and they were definite in saying ‘I would wear this!’ I made sure that men and women could wear everything.
The artwork is not something we usually associate with auction houses
Manon Hagie: That’s totally Heist-Out. It’s a resurgence of the 1980s/1990s – we were trying to find something kitsch. We were trying to break the rules with the ‘classic-ness’ of auction houses. We wanted to do something a little bit disruptive, so that people understand the message.
Lorenzo Maillard: We took what was happening in a normal watch auction and did the opposite.
Maxime Couturier: We really wanted to focus on putting the watches into context, to really elevate these ‘rough diamonds’. Because in our eyes these watches are a bit undervalued. Not only in terms of monetary potential but the designers behind them. The stories behind them. We love the other watches that we tend to see at auctions – the Rolex Daytona, the [Rolex] GMT, the Royal Oak, and so on. They are reassuring products because their market value is stable. People can be sure they’re making money out of it. But we believe there’s also room for quirky design pieces, the ones that are really coming up in the market. Hence also ‘rough diamonds’. Because these watches are true hidden gems in our eyes.
The logo looks like something Daft Punk or The Strokes would have come up with
Lorenzo Maillard: Also, yeah! That’s true. We’ve been working with an artist based in Paris – he took a month-and-a-half to draw the main poster. And more than a week per watch. We’ve also created trading cards with each individual watch.
Like Top Trumps?
Lorenzo Maillard: Yes! You have the details of each lot – the scarcity, the eccentricity of each piece…
Maxime Couturier: We really hope people will trade the cards. If you collect the top five lots and put them next to each other, it creates the design of the cave for the auction.
Of course. The auction is taking place in a cave…
Manon Hagie: That was part of the idea – to call it an ‘underground’ auction. It’s pieces that we’ve excavated from the past, if you will.
Maxime Couturier: We wanted to create an imaginative cave experience, a bit like the adventurous 1980s movies, when we were younger…
Lorenzo Maillard: So we looked for a specific place in Geneva. We focused on a place that resonated with the storytelling of the sale, but also the visual elements we’re developing. It’s an old wine cave. It’s going to be pretty amazing and unusual for a watch auction.
Which one's your favourite?
Lorenzo Maillard: They tend to change a lot, but the little Audemars Piguet car [a car-shaped, diamond and emerald-set watch, created by AP’s celebrated head of product design, Jacqueline Dimier, circa 1995] I think is amazing. I spoke to the designer and the story behind it is pretty cool as well.
Maxime Couturier: I’ll go for the Vacheron Constantin Aton [a yellow gold and diamond-set bracelet watch, circa 1988]. There’s something so pure about it. It’s maybe a bit bling [laughs]. But why not? Once in a lifetime.
Manon Hagie: Honestly, it’s so hard to say. I sourced them all and each time I found a treasure there was such joy. That was the best part of it. But in terms of craftsmanship and the uniqueness of the piece, it would probably be the Patek set, with the necklace and the ring. The condition is perfect. It’s flawless.
The Rough Diamonds public exhibition will take place in Geneva from 8-10 April. The live auction is on 11 April from 6pm Geneva time and online at Sothebys.com/roughdiamonds
This story originally appeared in Esquire's 'About Time' newsletter, style director Johnny Davis’s straight-talking take on the wonderful world of watches. Sign up here.
