The Comeback of Pocket Watches — Highlighted by the Extraordinary Sotheby’s Sale of Audemars Piguet’s “Grosse Pièce”
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A Resurgence in Pocket Watch Collecting
After decades in the shadow of the wristwatch, pocket watches are making a striking comeback in 2025. Several forces are driving this revival:
A renewed appreciation among collectors for traditional watchmaking, handcrafted complications, and pieces that embody horological history.
A growing trend in fashion and luxury toward distinctive, vintage-inspired accessories — making the pocket watch as much a statement object as a timekeeper.
Auction houses have reported record-breaking results for rare and highly complicated pocket watches, confirming strong and rising demand.
In short, the pocket watch has become once again a symbol of heritage, rarity, and distinction.
The Horological Event of 2025: Audemars Piguet’s Legendary “Grosse Pièce”
On December 8, 2025, Sotheby’s New York hosted a landmark auction featuring one of the most complex and historically important Audemars Piguet pocket watches ever created: the “Grosse Pièce.”
Originally commissioned for the English market in 1914, the watch required six years of work and contains 18 complications, an extraordinary feat for its time.
Its functions include a minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph, perpetual calendar, astronomical indications, and — most notably — a unique lunar celestial chart designed specifically for the London sky.
Among Audemars Piguet’s early masterpieces, the “Grosse Pièce” stands as one of the most ambitious and technically impressive pocket watches ever produced.
A Record-Breaking Sale
Initially estimated at $500,000–1,000,000 USD, the “Grosse Pièce” soared to a spectacular $7,736,000 USD including fees — setting a new world record for any Audemars Piguet pocket watch.
This sale places the watch among the most significant horological results of the decade, underscoring the growing prestige of exceptional pocket watches on the global market.
What This Means for the Watch World
The result at Sotheby’s and the broader trend signal several important shifts:
A return to roots: Collectors increasingly value craftsmanship, historical depth, and mechanical complexity.
Changing perceptions of value: High-end vintage pocket watches can now outshine contemporary wristwatches in desirability and auction performance.
A renewed interest from manufacturers: The enthusiasm may encourage fine watchmaking houses to revisit pocket watch designs, archival pieces, or special limited editions.
A golden era for collectors: For connoisseurs, this is an ideal moment to acquire rare, historical pieces that express both personal style and horological culture.
2025 marks a renaissance for the pocket watch. The extraordinary sale of Audemars Piguet’s “Grosse Pièce” at Sotheby’s stands as a defining moment, celebrating the artistry and innovation of early haute horlogerie. As luxury leans increasingly toward heritage, authenticity, and craftsmanship, the pocket watch — timeless, symbolic, and technically astonishing — is reasserting its place at the forefront of fine watch collecting.
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