Oscar winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola sale of a unique F.P Journe wristwatch has fetched a record $10 million at an auction in New York.
The prototype watch enormously surpassed expectations. It had been listed for $1 million last month with the cash-strapped American director desperately seeking funds after pouring millions on his own money into his latest movie ‘Megalopolis’ which tanked at the box office.
A one of a kind timepiece, the F.P Journe FFC was made for the legendary director after he met the creator in 2012 at his Inglenook winery in Napa Valley, California. Coppola asked him if a human hand had ever been used to indicate the time and the watch is the fruit of that conversation.
The pair reportedly became so captivated by the concept of using a single human hand to convey a twelve-hour period that discussions and prototyping continued for years. The FFC is the first and only François-Paul Journe timepiece whose idea came from someone other than himself.
Journe drew inspiration from Ambroise Paré, the pioneering 16th-century barber surgeon known as the father of modern surgery and an innovator of prosthetic limbs. His prosthetic hand, nicknamed “Le Petit Lorrain”, was among the most celebrated, crafted from iron and leather with hidden gears and springs that allowed the fingers to articulate and grasp objects, much like in watchmaking
“This FFC Prototype is, without question, one of the most historically significant F.P.Journe timepieces ever made,” said Phillips deputy chairman Paul Boutros. “It showcases what can be achieved when great creative minds collaborate.”
After eleven minutes of bidding from across the globe, the wristwatch was sold to to an anonymous bidder on the phone. The sale marks a new world auction record for F.P.Journe and a new world auction record for a watch by an independent watchmaker. The result also represents the highest result for a timepiece sold at auction in the United States since Phillips’ sale of Paul Newman’s Rolex “Paul Newman” Daytona in 2017.
Serendipity strikes
Coppola and Journe only met because Coppola’s wife, Eleanor, bought her husband a platinum Chronomètre à Résonance RN for Christmas in 2009. Journe wrote a note of thanks, and that gesture sparked a dialogue that led the American filmmaker to invite Journe to his Inglenook estate and vineyards.
The historic timepiece was one of seven watches from Coppola’s personal collection up for grabs in the weekend sale which concluded on Sunday raising a total of $43 million (€37 million) from 144 lots.
Inspired by the works of the great 18th century watchmaker Antide Janvier, Journe took up the challenge in 1983 to create a pocket-watch using the resonance phenomenon. The movement is composed of two independent balance wheels, when in motion, the balance wheels create the resonance effect and beat in synchrony, naturally evening out each other’s discrepancies and thus permitting greater accuracy. This model fetched $584,200.
Coppola is understood to have bought the Patek Phillippe Calatrava due to its elegant, timeless design and mechanical excellence. It sold for $87,630
First introduced in 1998, the Portugieser Chronograph reference IW3714 is one of the most iconic and desirable timepieces from the International Watch Company.
Known for its precision timing and oversized cases, the Portugieser collection has become highly desirable and collectable. This model sold for $21,000.
Patek Phillippe’s World Time was initially developed by Louis Cottier in 1935, who engineered a system of inner rotating discs indicating 24 cities covering all major time zones. This model sold for $88,900.
A Breguet classic, the dial’s immaculate white backdrop provides the perfect stage for the brand’s unmistakable pomme blued steel hands, gliding across exquisite painted Breguet numerals. This model fetched $60,960.
The Blancpin Repetition was the final watch to be sold from the Coppola collection, fetching $91,440. The movement inside, numbered 01, descends from the influential calibre 35, one of the first-ever automatic minute-repeating wristwatch movements, which Blancpain introduced during its revival under Jean-Claude Biver in the late 1980s.