Under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II and at the initiative of Luc Pettavino, President of Association Monégasque Contre les Myopathies, Only Watch is proud to announce that its 9th edition will be taking place on 6 November 2021.
The biennial auction of one-off luxury timepieces by the finest watch manufacturers for the research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy has seen a successful eight editions thus far, raising more than 70 million euros, with 99% of proceeds going directly to research projects thanks to generous participants and partners.
This year, it intends to bring together collectors, philantropists, and lovers of beauty and horology for a good cause once more with the participation of 54 luxury watch brands from Audemars Piguet and Bvlgari to Maurice Lacroix and Zenith.
Every year, these watchmakers donate a one-off unique piece commissioned specially for Only Watch. The lots will be auctioned in collaboration with Christie’s, for the third consecutive time, on 6 November 2021, at 2pm (Geneva time), at the Four Seasons Hôtel des Bergues.
These are some that will be on auction come November.
Breguet
Breguet presents a re-edition of its renowned pilot’s watch, produced as a one-of-a-kind piece for Only Watch 2021. The case for this Type XX chronograph remains loyal to its past, with its contained diameter of 38.30mm as per the original, as well as a typical curvature of the horns embellished by a lateral bevel along with some generously-sized push buttons. Unlike its military versions, this piece comes equipped with a straight crown. The bidirectional steel bezel is given the same attention to precision on this piece, which comes fitted with a 12-hour scale, along with a luminous triangular marker strongly inspired by the first generation of civilian Type XX pieces.
Urwerk
Urwerk’s presents the UR-102, a creation of disconcerting simplicity with a wandering hour as its only marker of time. This one-of-a-kind model in asphalt-coloured anodised aluminium with a platinum caseback has been newly enhanced with a midnight blue lacquer. It is one of the first watch creations to honour a mixed-genre approach merging the common metal aluminium with the nobility of platinum. Its full, round shape is seamlessly smooth. Framed by precious platinum, the caseback features an interpretation of the Gaïa prize, a dazzling flight of fancy symbolising Urwerk’s unswerving resolve to reach for the stars.
Maurice Lacroix
Maurice Lacroix has created an eye-catching example of its highly successful AIKON collection in carbon fibre, in collaboration with Mahindra Racing. The embossed off-centre hour and minutes display is presented in sun-brushed orange, framed with a yellow circlet, shades chosen to match the Pantone shades inspired by the Only Watch 2021 theme. The hands and indexes are executed in black and lined with yellow Super-LumiNova, while an openworked small seconds is positioned below. The main area of the dial is the reverse of the mainplate, vertically brushed and suffused with orange PVD.
Krayon
Krayon makes a bang with its debut at Only Watch with a hypercomplication piece. The Anywhere Only Watch 2021 Edition indicates the time of sunrise and sunset at the precise location chosen by the client – anywhere in the world. Fittingly for the occasion, this one-off is equipped with the prototype calibre that enabled the complication’s development. The dial is a window to the sublime: a delicate miniature painting, a contemporary reinterpretation of Claude Monet’s famous Impression, Rising Sun – orange, blazing, intense, the force at the origin of all life, reminding us there is something greater than ourselves to strive for.
Girard-Perregaux
Girard-Perregaux returned to the 70s and reinterpreted the Casquette, a model first unveiled in 1976. While the sapphire glass and LED display share the same look as the 1976 original, the Only Watch edition is equipped with a new quartz movement, proffering additional functionality such as second time zone, a chronograph and a ‘secret date’ to the original hours, minutes, seconds and dates. The watch is presented on a calf leather strap embossed with an alligator effect. A black ceramic buckle featuring titanium blades secures the timepiece to the wrist.
Ulysse Nardin
Ulysse Nardin brings not a wristwatch but a wacky high-flying clockmaker’s object called the UFO. It is a table clock with a spherical aluminium base on which a blown glass dome is secured by a bayonet system, made orange by a special anodizing surface treatment. The three connecting cylinders and the three lower ties of the movement have also been coloured orange. The power reserve disk, the decorative insert with the Ulysse Nardin anchor symbol are coloured orange. The three dials are also painted, but with a matte appearance to stand out in just the slightest way.
Hublot
Hublot presents the Big Bang Tourbillon Only Watch, a watch with a translucent sapphire case and a orange bezel displaying the expertise of Hublot and the colour code for Only Watch 2021. The sapphire dial reveals the mechanics of the new self-winding manufacture tourbillon movement—MHUB6035. A raised section, Superluminova on the hour and minute hands, and the numerals are also orange coloured. The watch is engraved with “Pièce Unique” and the Only Watch logo on the sapphire back cover and comes with two interchangeable One Click structured lined rubber straps, one transparent and the other, orange.
Jaquet Droz
Jaquet Droz presents the Grand Seconde Skelet-One Tourbillon adorned with a plique-à-jour enamel dial. Thanks to its realization in titanium and the elimination of the sapphire bridges, the cage of the tourbillon has been lightened and optimized. It is a contemporary skeletonized piece that is as technical as its highly precise tourbillon movement with a triple cross shape which, once a minute, aligns perfectly with its bridges. For the dial it achieves an entirely polished flat surface by applying extremely fine diamond powder polish to each area of the enamel, the tone of which was painstakingly selected and fired at a very high temperature several times in a row.
Learn more about the Only Watch auction at the official website here.
