- 🥇 Auction record · Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime ref. 6300A: 31.19 million dollars, Christie’s Geneva, 2019
- 💎 Highest price ever listed · Graff Hallucination: 55 million dollars, never put up for sale
- ⌚ Independent record · F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance No. 007: 13.92 million, Phillips New York, June 2026
- 🏆 Most represented brand · Patek Philippe, occupying half of the top ranking
- ⚠️ Not to be confused · An auction record is not a catalogue price
On the wrist, some watches are worth more than a yacht. But behind the dizzying figures lie two distinct rankings that most charts conflate: auction records, where collectors fight over historic pieces, and jewellery watches at catalogue prices, listed by the brand and never tested by the market. Here are the two, separated.
The auction record ranking
These are the only figures that commit someone: a buyer raised their hand and paid. All amounts below include the buyer’s premium.
| # | The watch | Price | Sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime ref. 6300A-010 Unique piece in steel, 20 complications, 1,366 components | 31.19 M$ | Christie’s Geneva Nov. 2019 |
| 2 | Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication Pocket watch commissioned in 1925, 24 complications | ≈ 24 M$ | Sotheby’s Geneva Nov. 2014 |
| 3 | Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” ref. 6239 The actor’s personal watch | 17.75 M$ | Phillips New York Oct. 2017 |
| 4 | Patek Philippe ref. 1518 in steel One of four known steel examples | ≈ 17.6 M$ | Phillips Geneva Nov. 2025 |
| 5 | Patek Philippe Grande et Petite Sonnerie ref. 6301A Unique piece sold to benefit Only Watch | 15.7 MCHF ≈ 17.3 M$ | Christie’s Geneva May 2024 |
| 6 | F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance Souscription n°007 All-time record for an independent watchmaker | 13.92 M$ | Phillips New York June 2026 |
| 7 | Patek Philippe ref. 1518 in steel Another of the four examples | 11.1 MCHF | Phillips Geneva May 2016 |
| 8 | F.P. Journe FFC Prototype born from an idea by Francis Ford Coppola | 10.75 M$ | Phillips New York Dec. 2025 |
| 9 | Rolex “Bao Dai” ref. 6062 Once owned by the last emperor of Vietnam | 5.06 M$ | Phillips Geneva May 2017 |
What this ranking tells us
Patek Philippe occupies five of the nine spots. The Geneva-based maison has built its reputation on two things that money cannot buy: uninterrupted production since 1839, and archives that allow every single piece to be traced. A collector does not buy an object; they buy a genealogy.
The second lesson is more recent. In June 2026, an independent watchmaker entered the top of the ranking: François-Paul Journe’s Résonance No. 007 reached 13.92 million dollars, the highest price ever paid for a 21st-century wristwatch. Six months earlier, his FFC had already crossed the ten million mark. What the great maisons took a century to build, a workshop producing a few dozen watches a year has achieved in thirty years.
The most expensive watches ever created
Here, no buyer raised their hand. These are prices listed by the brand, for high jewellery pieces where the dial is almost an excuse. They far exceed auction records, and that is precisely why they should not be confused.
| # | The watch | Listed price | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Graff Diamonds Hallucination 110 carats of coloured diamonds on a platinum bracelet | 55 M$ | 2014 |
| 2 | Graff Diamonds The Fascination 152.96 carats of colourless diamonds, convertible into a bracelet | 40 M$ | 2015 |
Auction or catalogue: why the gap is so wide
A catalogue price adds up stones. The Hallucination is 110 carats of rare coloured diamonds, whose value can be estimated per carat, plus a margin. An auction record, on the other hand, measures a rarity that no addition can replicate: a unique piece, a former owner, a history.
It is for this reason that Paul Newman’s Daytona is worth ten times an identical Daytona that left the factory in the same month. The movement is the same. The wrist was not.
Key takeaways
To the question “what is the most expensive watch in the world”, there are therefore two answers, and they do not say the same thing. The most expensive ever sold is the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, at 31.19 million dollars. The most expensive ever created is the Graff Hallucination, listed at 55 million, but never tested in an auction room.
For Rolex, the pinnacle remains Paul Newman’s Daytona ref. 6239, at 17.75 million dollars in 2017, which is still the most expensive vintage wristwatch in auction history. And for independents, the bar moved in June 2026: F.P. Journe’s Résonance No. 007 went above all 21st-century Patek watches, without having either the age or the archives.
One last thing that the rankings forget to mention. Auction pieces can be worn, and indeed they are: they are watches, with a movement, a dial and a bezel. Graff’s jewellery watches, however, are primarily bracelets · on the Hallucination, the dial measures just a few millimetres in the midst of 110 carats.
Ranking updated on 13 September 2026. Auction records are sourced from the auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips.
