The most expensive watch in the world in 2026: $31 million

The question “what is the most expensive watch in the world?” calls for three rankings that most lists mix up: auction records, the only prices actually paid, high jewellery pieces whose value is announced by the brand, and new watches from the catalogue. Here are all three, kept separate and updated with the 2025 and 2026 sales at Phillips, Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

The top 10 watches sold at auction

The amounts below are those published by the auction houses, buyer’s premium included. Dollar conversions are those of the sale date, as given by the auction house, unless otherwise stated.

Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime 6300A-010 · CHF 31 million

Christie’s Geneva, 9 November 2019, Only Watch charity auction. Patek Philippe had entrusted it with a unique steel piece of its most complicated wristwatch: 20 complications, a reversible case with two dials, five striking modes. Sold for CHF 31 million, or about $31.2 million, it remains the most expensive watch ever sold. The full amount went to the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy.

Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication · CHF 23.2 million

Sotheby’s Geneva, 11 November 2014: CHF 23,237,000, about $24 million. This yellow gold pocket watch, completed in 1932 for New York banker Henry Graves Jr., combines 24 complications. It holds the all-time record for a non-charity sale.

Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” ref. 6239 · $17.75 million

Phillips New York, “Winning Icons” sale, 26 October 2017: $17,752,500. This is the Daytona that Joanne Woodward gave her husband, engraved on the caseback “Drive carefully me”. According to Phillips, no vintage wristwatch has done better since.

Patek Philippe 1518 in steel · CHF 14.19 million

Phillips Geneva, “Decade One” sale, 8 November 2025: CHF 14,190,000, or $17,631,075, after nine minutes and twenty-eight seconds of bidding. Made in 1943, it is the very first of the four known steel 1518s: a “1” is stamped under the case number. Phillips had already sold the same watch for CHF 11,002,000 in November 2016. In nine years, its value has risen by about 29%.

Patek Philippe Grande Sonnerie 6301A-010 · CHF 15.7 million

Christie’s Geneva, 10 May 2024, Only Watch sale: CHF 15.7 million, about $17.3 million at May 2024 exchange rates (our conversion). A unique piece and the first 6301 in steel, with a blue-green flinqué Grand Feu enamel dial and a grande and petite sonnerie calibre of 703 components.

F.P. Journe Résonance “Souscription” No. 007 · $13.92 million

Phillips New York, 13 June 2026: $13,922,000, against an estimate of “over 1 million”. Hammered down at 11.6 million after nearly nine minutes of bidding, it is one of the twenty Résonance “Souscription” watches reserved for François-Paul Journe’s first clients, whose advance payments funded the launch of his manufacture in 2000. It is one of two known in platinum and rose gold with a rose gold dial. Phillips describes it as a record for an independent watchmaker and for a 21^st-century watch at a commercial sale.

F.P. Journe FFC Prototype · $10.755 million

Phillips New York, December 2025: $10,755,000. This 42 mm platinum prototype, given by François-Paul Journe to Francis Ford Coppola in 2021, displays the hours with an articulated hand. It held the record for independents for six months, before being overtaken by Résonance No. 007.

Patek Philippe 2499 “The Pink First Series” · HK$80.37 million

Phillips Hong Kong, 30 May 2026: HK$80,370,000, or just over $10 million. A first-series 2499 in rose gold, the perpetual calendar chronograph that succeeded the 1518.

Patek Philippe 2523 “South America” · CHF 7.96 million

Phillips Geneva, 9 May 2026: CHF 7,961,000, more than $10 million. This 1953 two-crown world time watch in yellow gold has a cloisonné enamel dial depicting South America. A record for the reference, and the third vintage wristwatch to pass $10 million, according to Phillips.

Patek Philippe 1518 rose gold “Toussoun” · $9.57 million

Sotheby’s New York, December 2021: $9,570,000. This “pink on pink” 1518, with rose case and dial, belonged to the Egyptian prince Mohammed Tewfik Toussoun. It remains the second most expensive Patek Philippe sold by Sotheby’s.

Just behind come the Patek Philippe 2523 “Gobbi Milano” (HK$70,175,000, Christie’s Hong Kong, 2019), the Tiffany-signed Nautilus 5711/1A-018 ($6,503,500, Phillips New York, 2021), Eric Clapton’s Patek Philippe 5004G ($5,202,000, Phillips New York, June 2026) and the Rolex “Bao Dai” ref. 6062 ($5.06 million, Phillips Geneva, 2017). For the crown brand alone, see our review of Rolex at auction in 2025.

What 2025 and 2026 changed

Five of the ten watches in the ranking have been sold since November 2025, and Phillips sold six of the ten. Its Geneva sale of 9 and 10 May 2026 totalled CHF 74,846,995, the highest total ever achieved by a watch auction, followed by $75,807,200 in New York in June, with every lot sold.

At Christie’s, the “Rare Watches” sale in Geneva on 11 and 12 May 2026 totalled CHF 33,054,441, led by a platinum F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain at CHF 2,439,000. At Sotheby’s, on 10 May 2026, a 1916 A. Lange & Söhne Grande Complication, No. 62508, soared to about CHF 1.6 million, a record for the Saxon manufacture.

The real break comes down to one name. In six months, F.P. Journe placed two watches in the all-time top 10, a spot until then reserved for Patek Philippe and Rolex. In Geneva in May 2026, its Résonance “Souscription No. 18” also reached CHF 4,875,500.

Jewellery watches: prices announced, never paid

The most staggering figures come not from the salerooms but from the jewellers. None of these prices has been validated by a public sale: they are values announced by the brand, based mainly on the weight and quality of the stones.

Graff Hallucination · $55 million

Unveiled by Graff at Baselworld in March 2014 and presented by the jeweller as the most precious watch ever created. More than 110 carats of coloured diamonds, from Laurence Graff’s personal collection, surround an almost invisible dial.

Graff The Fascination · $40 million

Presented by Graff at Baselworld in 2015: 152.96 carats of white diamonds, including a 38.13-carat pear, D colour, flawless clarity, which detaches to be worn as a ring or at the centre of a bracelet.

Chopard 201 Carats · $25 million

Created in 2000, it carries 874 diamonds, including three large heart-shaped diamonds, pink, blue and white, which open to reveal the dial. The $25 million is the commonly cited value, never verified by a public transaction.

Jacob & Co Billionaire Timeless Treasure · $20 million

Unveiled by Jacob & Co in 2023 at an announced price of $20 million: nearly 217 carats of Asscher-cut yellow diamonds, right down to the tourbillon movement.

The most expensive new watches in the catalogue

Few haute horlogerie houses publish their prices. Patek Philippe does, and its catalogue reveals sums higher than many auction records. Recommended retail prices taken from the French version of the brand’s website on 11 October 2026:

• Grandmaster Chime 6300/403G-001, white gold, diamonds and baguette emeralds: €5,121,000
• Grandmaster Chime 6300/401G-001, diamonds and baguette blue sapphires: €4,730,900
• Grandmaster Chime 6300/400G-001, 409 baguette diamonds in invisible setting: €4,602,600
• Grandmaster Chime 6300GR-001, white gold and rose gold, 20 complications: €3,256,500
• Sky Moon Tourbillon 6002R-001, rose gold and Grand Feu enamel: €1,892,700
• Grande Sonnerie 6301P-001, platinum: €1,499,700
• Grand Complication 5316/50P-001, platinum: €1,018,400

The most expensive new watch you can order from a catalogue is therefore a Patek Philippe at €5.12 million. The grand complications of Richard Mille, Vacheron Constantin (Les Cabinotiers collection) or A. Lange & Söhne are offered on request only: since these houses publish no price, we quote none.

The ranking at a glance

Ranking based on dollar values at the exchange rate on the day of the sale. The 6300A and 6301A were sold at the Only Watch charity auction. Jewellery pieces and catalogue prices are excluded: they have never been paid at auction.

Why a watch reaches 30 million

Three levers explain these prices. First, absolute rarity: a unique piece like the 6300A, or one of the four steel 1518s. Then provenance: Paul Newman’s Daytona is worth hundreds of times a Daytona from the same period, even though the movement is identical. Finally, traceability. Patek Philippe made seven of the ten most expensive watches, because its archives, kept since the house was founded in 1839, make it possible to document each piece with an official extract.

Charity sales also distort the hierarchy: the 6300A and 6301A were sold at Only Watch, where the buyer pays partly for the cause. Excluding charity sales, the three most expensive wristwatches were all sold by Phillips.

The myths that skew the rankings

The Breguet No. 160, known as the “Marie-Antoinette”, appears in almost every list. Commissioned in 1783 for the queen, who never saw it completed, it is on display at the L.A. Mayer Museum in Jerusalem. Stolen in 1983 and recovered in 2007, it has never been put up for sale: a watch that is not for sale has no price, only valuations.

The same logic applies to Vacheron Constantin’s Berkley Grand Complication, unveiled in 2024 with 63 complications: the most complicated watch ever built, but with no price disclosed. Finally, a catalogue price is not a market value: a new Grandmaster Chime at €3.26 million and the 6300A at CHF 31 million share the same calibre.

Updated on 11 October 2026. Records sourced from the auction houses Phillips, Christie’s and Sotheby’s and from Patek Philippe press releases; catalogue prices taken from the Patek Philippe website.