Philippe Dufour has set a new world record for independent watchmakers with an extremely rare watch.
The watch in question is a Grande et Petite Sonnerie that sold through A Collected Man for $ 7.33 million. The rarity is currently the most expensive standalone watch that has ever been sold and one of the 10 most expensive watches to have changed hands in public.
Handcrafted by Dufour, hailed as one of the most important living independent watchmakers, this watch is one of only eight of its kind and the third watch to leave the master workshop. It was first made in 1995 for the Sultan of Brunei and last went public almost 10 years ago.
The watch belongs to the watchmaker’s most complex series. According to the London dealer, the extremely complex movement first appeared on Dufour’s Grande Sonnerie minute repeater pocket watch developed for Audemars Piguet. Tired of the lack of personal reputation for design, the watchmaker decided to modernize the movement for a wristwatch and manufacture it himself.
It took Dufour ten years to complete the Grande Sonnerie and required a lot of meticulous work. The result is a true achievement of mechanical precision and melodic beauty. Like all great sonnets, the clock repeats the clock when it strikes the hour and every quarter. It can also strike the clock and every quarter without repeating the clock like a little sonnerie. The Grande or Petite Sonnerie mode can be activated using a slide switch hidden under the hinged bezel. Meanwhile, the button on the crown can optionally activate a minute repeater that displays the hour, quarter, and minute.
Philippe Dufour is not the first to ask a very high price. The market for used independent watches continues to boom, and even fewer elite watchmaker watches are attracting exorbitant numbers. In October 2020, a Philippe Dufour Simplicity was auctioned for 1.5 million US dollars.
“This is quite simply one of the most important and sought-after timepieces to hit the market recently,” said Silas Walton, CEO and founder of A Collected Man. “Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie represents the absolute pinnacle of craftsmanship and is the result of years of careful work and relentless vision of one of the masters of modern watchmaking.”