Geneva, 23 April 2026 - On 9 and 10 May, Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo will host its first live watch auction of 2026, the Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII, presenting more than 200 exceptional timepieces spanning over three centuries of watchmaking. Among the most historically significant highlights is a unique Agassiz Watch Co. world-time pocket watch, created in 1945 and presented to General Charles de Gaulle to commemorate the Allied victory in World War II.
In the closing months of the war, a group of prominent Geneva citizens led by Ernest Baumann commissioned a series of commemorative watches to honor the leaders of the Allied powers. Produced in secrecy and completed in time for Christmas 1945, four pocket watches were created for the principal statesmen associated with the Allied victory, each personalized to reflect the nation and symbolism of its recipient. U.S. President Harry Truman received a piece featuring the Statue of Liberty, with an hour hand shaped as an olive branch symbolizing peace. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's watch depicted an industrial worker before a steel mill, with the hour hand in the form of the five-pointed communist star. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was honoured with an image of St. George slaying the dragon, accompanied by a trident-shaped hour hand.
A watch made for Charles de Gaulle
The present watch was gifted to General Charles de Gaulle of the Free French Forces and features a polychrome cloisonné enamel dial depicting Joan of Arc, France's patron saint. She stands planting a staff bearing the Cross of Lorraine, the emblem of Free France during the resistance, a motif that also forms the distinctive shape of the hour hand. In the background, a sailboat and a warship appear peacefully on the horizon, symbolic of both conflict and the hope for peace following the war's end. The enameling was executed by Michel Deville of Maison Stern, following extensive design development recorded in the Stern archives. Each watch shares a common caseback design engraved by master engraver Edgar Maerky, in which a large "V" for victory overlays a map of the globe, with a personalized dedication beneath. The present example carries the dedication "General Charles De Gaulle" between the dates 1939 and 1945.
A complication chosen for a global conflict
The watches were powered by the world-time system developed by the Geneva watchmaker Louis Cottier, whose invention in the early 1930s made it possible to display the time simultaneously across the globe. The complication was chosen deliberately to reflect the global nature of the conflict and the international cooperation that brought it to an end, and Cottier himself participated in the project. Few timepieces capture a moment in world history as vividly. Created to commemorate the end of humanity's most devastating conflict and presented to the leaders who shaped its outcome, the present example is both a technical achievement and an extraordinary historical artefact. Preserved in remarkable condition, the watch retains its pristine cloisonné enamel dial and sharply engraved caseback, and the presence of French import marks further confirms its delivery to General de Gaulle.
The Phillips Geneva Watch Auction: XXIII will take place on 9 and 10 May 2026 at the Hôtel Président Wilson in Geneva, offering collectors an exceptional selection of historically important and rare timepieces.
About Phillips Watches
Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized US$74.5 million in 2021. The annual total for watch auctions in 2025 exceeded US$290 million, marking the first time any auction house's Watches department has surpassed US$200 million in annual sales for five consecutive years. The house's record-breaking results include Paul Newman's Rolex "Paul Newman" Daytona reference 6239, sold for CHF 17,709,894 (US$17,752,500) at the New York Auction: Winning Icons on 26 October 2017, the highest result ever achieved for any vintage wristwatch at auction, and a Patek Philippe reference 1518 in stainless steel, sold for CHF 14,190,000 (US$17,631,075) at Watches: Decade One (2015 to 2025) on 8 November 2025, the highest result ever achieved for a vintage Patek Philippe wristwatch at auction.
Estimates do not include buyer's premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer's premium.
(Press Release)
