We flew directly from Hong Kong to Geneva, so there was no stop at home between the two trips. Three days in Hong Kong went straight into around five days in Geneva, right in the middle of Auction Week.

I've been to Geneva many times by now, but this was my first proper experience of the auction week. For a few days in May, an incredible amount of the vintage watch world gathers in a very small part of the city. Phillips, Christie's, Sotheby's and Antiquorum all have viewings and auctions happening around the same time, bringing collectors, dealers, specialists and people with decades of experience into the same few rooms.

Straight In

Before the auctions started, we spent time going through the different viewings. This was probably my first real introduction to how accessible that part of the auction world actually is. Some of the most important watches in the world are sitting there on tables in front of you, and you can walk in, see them up close and learn about them before many disappear into collections again.

A man in a grey pinstripe suit holding a large vintage object with a short antenna to his ear in a room filled with framed art and display shelves
Four men standing around a low table in a small room lined with framed art, shelves and decorative objects
Two men seated and talking in a room of framed pictures, cases and boxes spread across the table between them
A man crouching on a low stool to lace a black shoe while several others stand around him in a room hung with framed art
Video: a black-and-gold cigarette dispenser opened on a coffee table, cigarettes fanning out under the lifted lid, a yellow telephone and framed pictures behind

The first room visits after arriving from Hong Kong.

Friday

The Viewings

For someone who learns a lot by actually seeing and touching watches, those days were pretty special. The guys from Collectors Gallery brought me into their circle of friends and colleagues, many of whom have been collecting, buying and selling important watches for decades. There was an incredible amount of experience around us, and I spent a lot of the week listening and asking questions.

Yellow-gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak perpetual calendar with a gold dial and integrated bracelet, worn under a grey pinstripe suit cuff
Yellow-gold Cartier Crash held between finger and thumb, its warped case and stretched Roman numerals on a burgundy alligator strap
A watch with concentric rings of baguette-cut clear stones around its dial, on a black strap beneath a grey suit cuff
A man in a brown jacket holding a large vintage object with a short antenna to his ear, with framed prints covering the wall behind him
A vintage Rolex with a black Submariner dial, fluted bezel and a President-style bracelet, held in a hand

Some of the most important watches in the world, sitting on tables in front of you.

Across the week

What Kept Coming Out

I saw configurations and references I'd never seen before and had people around me who could explain why certain examples mattered.

A Rolex Day-Date with a pavé-set dial and diamond-set bezel on a white-metal bracelet, worn beneath a grey pinstripe cuff
A gem-set Rolex Datejust with a tiger-stripe dial, baguette-set bezel and matching stone-set strap, held in one hand
A yellow-gold Patek Philippe Nautilus with a diamond-set bezel and hour markers and an embossed gold dial on its integrated bracelet, under a white shirt cuff
A yellow-gold Patek Philippe on an integrated bracelet with a two-tone blue and white dial, worn under a pale shirt cuff
A Rolex Daytona in white metal with a pale satin dial, Eastern Arabic numerals and a diamond-set bezel, on its bracelet under a white cuff
A hand holding four watches at once, gold and steel together, over a white hotel bed with a laptop beside

Six in one day, all different.

Friday

Patek Philippe 2499

There was also another very special Patek waiting for us in Geneva. This time it was a reference 2499 with a black dial that Collectors Gallery and Amsterdam Vintage Watches were preparing to push out, so we needed to shoot the photography and video for it. The 2499 is Patek Philippe's perpetual calendar chronograph. We found a hotel where I could set everything up and got to work.

I've been quite careful when building my equipment to make sure I can pack down what I need and travel with it for exactly these situations. It gives me the freedom to arrive somewhere, find a suitable space and build a small setup around whatever is waiting for us.

A yellow-gold Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph with a black dial and moon phase, on a black alligator strap under a white shirt cuff
A closer view of a yellow-gold Patek Philippe 2499, showing its black dial, calendar apertures, moon phase, date scale and round chronograph pushers
A black-dial Patek Philippe 2499 resting on its Extract from the Archives document on a white hotel bed, beside a black folder and leather pouch
A hotel-room shoot in progress, a large softbox over the table, Jimmy in the selfie foreground and someone on the phone behind

The black-dial 2499 and the portable hotel-room setup.

Friday and Saturday

Phillips

And then came Phillips.

Remember the Patek Philippe 2523 from Hong Kong?

Only a few days earlier I'd had a 2523 in my own hands, shooting it under my lights in Hong Kong. Now I was standing on the auction floor at Phillips as another 2523, the "South America", came up for sale.

The Phillips building in Geneva, its name on the panel above the glass frontage under a clear sky
A hand reaching over an open display tray of watches at a viewing, more trays laid out along the table
A viewing room with display cases down the middle and people moving between them, tall windows along one wall

The building, the last viewing, and the room filling up.

Saturday

The 2523 “South America”

This particular watch has a polychrome cloisonne enamel dial depicting a map of South America and is one of only two known examples. It hadn't appeared publicly at auction since 1988, so there wasn't exactly a recent result to tell anyone where the bidding might end.

The one I photographed in Hong Kong days earlier is the prototype at Collectors Gallery, with a guilloche centre rather than enamel, so this was my second 2523 in a single week. The lot itself, an 18k yellow-gold two-crown world timer, came up at Phillips, The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII on 9 May 2026.

A two-crown Patek Philippe world time wristwatch in yellow gold on a brown strap, its cloisonne enamel centre showing a map of South America, ringed by the twenty-four-hour scale and the city ring

The Patek Philippe 2523 “South America” before the auction.

Saturday

The Room

Once it started, the atmosphere in the room changed completely.

Several telephone bidders were fighting for it against a bidder standing in the room, and the longer it continued, the more you could feel everyone paying attention. I was standing there on the floor as the numbers kept climbing until the final battle came down to the telephone and the man in the room.

From where I was standing, that man was Davide Parmegiani of Monaco Legend Group, one of the biggest names in the vintage watch world.

When the hammer finally came down, the 2523 had sold for CHF 7,961,000, around $10.2 million at the time. A new world record for the reference.

Video: the camera moves through a crowded Phillips saleroom towards the auctioneer at the rostrum while a watch is displayed on the projection screen

Another lot underway in the crowded Phillips saleroom.

Saturday

After the Hammer

The atmosphere was completely insane. I genuinely had goosebumps standing there. You could feel the tension between every bid and then the reaction when it was finally over. I'd never experienced an auction at that level from inside the room before, and within a few minutes I understood why people get hooked on it.

Watching an auction result afterwards on your phone doesn't come close to being in that room. Seeing the people bidding, the pauses, everyone looking around to see what would happen next and then finally hearing the hammer come down is something I definitely want to experience again.

For me, the timing made it even better. A few days earlier I'd been shooting another 2523 in Hong Kong with the watch in my own hands, learning about the reference as we worked. Then we flew directly to Geneva and I watched another example set a world record.

I definitely understood the 2523 a little better when I walked out of Phillips than I did when I first picked one up in Hong Kong.

Between the Rooms

The rest of the week continued with viewings, auctions and a lot of conversations in between. What I enjoyed most was having people around me who really knew this world. I'm still learning this side of the industry, and being able to stand in front of a watch and ask someone who has spent twenty or thirty years around pieces like it why something matters is difficult to replace.

Overhead view of a table with a cigar in an ornate ashtray, two glasses, part of a laptop keyboard and several small personal items
A disposable lighter with a printed portrait standing upright on the white-gold bracelet of a diamond-bezel Audemars Piguet, a 750 hallmark on the clasp, on a marble table

Informal moments between the scheduled viewings and auctions.

Across the weekend

Hermance

One evening we drove out of central Geneva to L'Auberge d'Hermance for dinner. It's a beautiful little place by the water, and after several days moving between viewings and auctions it was good to sit down for a long dinner with friends and some new faces. Great food, good wine and cigars afterwards. I'll definitely be going back there.

Two men with cigars at a restaurant table, tall windows behind them, an ashtray and glasses on the table
A long restaurant table set for dinner, menus, flowers and cut-glass tumblers, the room busy behind
A hand holding a bottle of Château Calon Ségur 2005, Saint-Estèphe, above the dinner table
Video: a server uses a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine beside an ice bucket at the dinner table

Dinner, wine and cigars at L'Auberge d'Hermance.

One evening

What the Week Changed

Collectors Gallery has changed the way I look at vintage watches quite a lot over the last six months, and spending Auction Week surrounded by people who have lived in that world for decades pushed it further again.

I'm still never going to be the person who remembers every reference number, but I'm becoming much more interested in understanding why a particular dial matters, where a watch came from, how many exist and why one example can create an entire room full of energy while another doesn't.

I still approach watches visually first, and I don't think that will ever change. But understanding the history behind what I'm shooting has become a much bigger part of the enjoyment for me.

The Way Home

After three days in Hong Kong followed immediately by around five days in Geneva, I was definitely ready to go home. But I left with thousands of photographs, new relationships, a lot more knowledge and a completely new appreciation for the auction world.

A big thank you to the Collectors Gallery and Amsterdam Vintage Watches teams for bringing me into their circle throughout the week, and to everyone who took the time to share their knowledge with me.

After experiencing that Phillips room for the first time, I'm pretty sure it won't be my last Auction Week.

See you around, Geneva.

Video: Lake Geneva from the shore, the big wheel and the hills across the water

A final view across Lake Geneva before heading home.

The way home