This November, Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo will celebrate a decade of watch auctions with the Decade One (2015-2025) thematic auction at the Hôtel Président in Geneva. This landmark sale celebrates the successful first 10 years of the Phillips Watches department, reflecting on the remarkable watches, record-breaking results, and new scholarship that have shaped Phillips Watches since its inaugural auction in 2015.
Fittingly for a sale that reflects both history and innovation, Decade One includes a selection of one-of-a-kind prototypes – watches that capture ideas in their earliest form, often revealing details or solutions that never made it into production. Sometimes they feel experimental, other times nearly complete, but each one offers a direct window into a watchmaker’s process.
To encounter a prototype is to see a piece of horological history at its most candid. Several notable prototypes will be offered in the sale, from both established brands and contemporary independents. The Saltarello was the first wristwatch from Vacheron Constantin to combine a jump hour aperture with a retrograde minutes display. Released in the late 1990s in a series of 500 watches, the present example is the original prototype, created around 1995.
This early watch tested a brake system, to cushion the retrograde return, visible through an aperture on the dial – a detail later abandoned in the production series. The guilloché dial and engraved rotor also differ from the final design. Originally housed in a gold-plated case engraved Test N°1, it was later recased by Vacheron in 18k yellow gold and engraved Pièce Unique. Consigned by the watchmaker who developed the Saltarello for Vacheron, this prototype represents a rare opportunity to acquire the Saltarello at its inception – an essential piece of neo-vintage Vacheron Constantin history.
This experimental yellow-gold prototype, created by André Beyner and Maurice Grimm, was the first ultra-thin, self-winding tourbillon wristwatch. Its movement, just 2.7mm thick, was integrated directly into the caseback and used a novel “hammer” winding system driven by a platinum oscillating mass.
Audemars Piguet eventually acquired the project and, in 1986, launched the calibre 2870 inside the landmark ref. 25643. The present prototype – accompanied by original technical drawings and correspondence – captures the moment when new machining technologies made such advances possible. More than a technical achievement, this watch helped reestablish the tourbillon as a showpiece of modern haute horlogerie.
Known for his tourbillons, David Candaux pursued a different path with the DC12, his first time-only watch – though one with a double escapement and differential. He first encountered the system in the mid-1990s as an apprentice at Jaeger-LeCoultre, when a 1930s double-escapement pocket watch came in for restoration, the same watch that had inspired Philippe Dufour to create the Duality. By averaging the rates of two balances, the mechanism delivers greater precision.
Candaux began development of his own double-escapement wristwatch in 2008, but it wasn’t until 2025 that his vision was realized with the DC12. Featuring a curved case and seven-level movement architecture, Candaux secured three patents for the new, in-house calibre C30. The present example, christened model α (Alpha), is the very first prototype and the only one to use a movement made from German silver (the production series will utilize titanium). It is offered in new, unworn condition.
Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin has long charmed collectors with his clever Wristmons series, and the present “Fiat Lux” example (Latin for “let there be light”) is the prototype of his first open worked Joker model. The watch reveals the mechanics behind its signature jester-inspired face: the eyes serve as sub-dials, with the left indicating the hours and the right the minutes, while the smile at six o’clock contains a moon-phase display. It was also the first Wristmon to feature an exhibition caseback. Numbered 00/38 from a series made for Beijing retailer West Wood Time, this is the original prototype – the Joker that introduced the world to this open worked design.
Cédric Johner, a Geneva-based watchmaker and jeweler, celebrated the 30th anniversary of his independent career in 2021 with the 30-piece Abyss Chronograph, powered by new-old-stock Valjoux 23 movements. The present prototype utilizes Johner’s signature tonneau-inspired Abyss case in stainless steel but differs from the production series in key ways: its movement decoration is more traditional, and the chronograph and seconds hands are red rather than silver. This prototype highlights Johner’s instantly recognizable design language in its most direct form: an inventive blend of jeweler’s craft and watchmaker’s precision.
The Phillips Decade One (2015-2025) watch auction will take place on 8–9 November 2025 at the Hôtel Président in Geneva, offering collectors an unprecedented opportunity to discover and acquire timepieces that define Phillips’ first decade as well as the broader history of watchmaking.
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