Geneva / Hong Kong, 23 April 2025 - Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo will offer an exceptional selection of nine Art Deco Cartier clocks from a prestigious private collection, to be presented this May across auctions in Geneva and Hong Kong. Spanning the 1900s to the 1940s, the group showcases Cartier's mastery of design, craftsmanship, and innovation during the golden age of decorative arts, and it is led by a historically important Portico Mystery Clock carrying an estimate in excess of CHF 2,000,000 (US$2,280,000). Together, the house describes the pieces as a once-in-a-generation collecting opportunity.
The selection brings together a museum-quality Portico Mystery Clock, an extremely rare Mystery Clock with a coral sculpture, a red amber and black enamel desk clock featuring a jade dial, a unique illuminated nephrite lantern clock, and a rare minute-repeating desk clock with Laque Burgauté panels. Many of the works resurface after decades in private hands, several of them last seen publicly some thirty years ago.
Aurel Bacs, Senior Consultant of Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo, said, "For Phillips and its international team of specialists, it is an incredible privilege and pleasure to bring such a historic, museum-quality selection of unique Cartier clocks from the early 20th century to the market. As King Edward VII called Cartier 'the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers,' issuing it with a royal warrant just two years after opening its first London store in 1902, these unique, entirely hand-crafted clocks are the pinnacle of craftsmanship, quality, creativity, and mechanical ingenuity." He added that the Portico Clock Number 3 ranks, in his view, among "one of the world's most important horological items," and that he could "barely remember having seen such an important assembly of Cartier clocks at auction in the last decades."
The Geneva Watch Auction: XXI, 10 to 11 May
The centerpiece of the Geneva sale is Cartier's legendary Portico Mystery Clock No. 3, created in 1924. Standing 38.1 cm tall, the museum-quality masterpiece features rose quartz columns, a twelve-sided carved rock crystal dial, and a diamond-set dragon motif, with the dial suspended within a Chinese temple-inspired frame to create an illusion of floating time that helped define the Art Deco era. Only six Portico clocks exist, and No. 3 is among the most lavish, incorporating mother-of-pearl, onyx, and enamel. Exhibited at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and later at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, it has been referenced in major publications, including the Gazette du Bon Ton and Hans Nadelhoffer's Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary. It is offered with an estimate in excess of CHF 2,000,000 (US$2,280,000).
Geneva will also feature a highly rare miniature prism clock, circa 1940, measuring just 17.5mm by 17.5mm by 28.5mm, which uses a patented prism system based on the periscope principle so that the clock face appears clearly from the front but vanishes from the back. Designed by Gaston Cusin, a collaborator of Maurice Couet, it is estimated at CHF 10,000 to 20,000 (US$12,400 to 24,800). Rounding out the Geneva highlights is a silver, enamel, and rock crystal desk compendium with clock, circa 1925, signed Cartier and fitted with rock crystal inkwell handles, estimated at CHF 15,000 to 30,000 (US$18,600 to 37,200).
The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XX, evening session, 23 May
A dedicated evening session on 23 May will present clocks that reflect the influence of the Far East on Cartier's Art Deco creations, alongside an impressive selection of 19th-century mechanical curiosities made for the Chinese market. Leading the session is a unique and museum-quality rock crystal, diamond, onyx, coral, mother-of-pearl, yellow gold, and enamel mystery clock, circa 1930, measuring 215mm tall and featuring a coral sculpture depicting a dragon and a Bixie, a mythical creature of Chinese folklore. Signed with French hallmarks and fitted with an original European Watch and Clock Co. movement, it carries an estimate of HK$2,000,000 to 4,000,000 (US$256,000 to 513,000). Other evening highlights include a red amber and black enamel desk clock with carved jade dial, circa 1925, estimated at HK$1,200,000 to 2,400,000 (US$154,000 to 308,000); an illuminated nephrite lantern clock, circa 1925, whose nephrite panels glow when lit and whose crown topped by a crescent and star suggests a possible connection to King Farouk of Egypt, estimated at HK$960,000 to 1,920,000 (US$123,000 to 246,000); and a yellow gold minute-repeating desk clock with Laque Burgaute panels, circa 1929, crowned by a nephrite Fu Dog that doubles as the repeater trigger, estimated at HK$560,000 to 1,120,000 (US$71,800 to 144,000).
The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XX, 24 to 25 May
The main Hong Kong sale is led by Cartier's circa 1925 Modele A Mystery Clock, a landmark of horological innovation crafted from rock crystal, mother-of-pearl, yellow gold, onyx, and diamonds, with hidden mechanism that creates the illusion of floating hands. Signed by Cartier and European Watch & Clock Co. and described as in outstanding condition, it is one of only around sixty known Modele A examples and is estimated at HK$2,000,000 to 4,000,000 (US$256,000 to 513,000). It is joined by an imposing pink marble, agate, and enamel table clock with barometer and thermometer, circa 1905, topped by a carved agate elephant and inspired by Russian artistry, offered in its rare original green presentation box with an estimate of HK$1,200,000 to 2,400,000 (US$154,000 to 308,000).
Highlights at a glance
Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. The department's annual total for watch auctions in 2024 exceeded $212 million, marking the first time any auction house's Watches department has surpassed US$200 million in annual sales for four consecutive years. Its record-breaking results include Paul Newman's Rolex "Paul Newman" Daytona reference 6239 (CHF 17,709,894 / US$17,752,500), the highest result ever achieved for any vintage wristwatch at auction, and a Patek Philippe reference 1518 in stainless steel (CHF 11,020,000 / US$11,112,020), 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)
