★ Only Watch

01Why it matters

Only Watch is the one moment in the calendar when the watch industry acts collectively. Competitors donate to the same sale, the pieces they make for it become reference points in their own catalogues, and prices achieved here are read — cautiously, because they are charitable — as a signal of where enthusiasm sits. Several houses have used the auction to introduce ideas that later became production models.

In our reading, its future is now the open question. The eleventh edition has not been scheduled, and the association spent the period after the 2024 sale publicly strengthening its governance following the postponement of the 2023 edition. An editor should treat Only Watch as an event whose next date is genuinely unknown rather than merely unpublished.

02The week around it

When it runs, Only Watch attaches itself to a Geneva auction week rather than standing alone, so the surrounding days carry the previews of Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips and Antiquorum, and the collectors and specialists in town are the same people. The exhibition tour beforehand is the part that reaches a wider public: the collection has travelled through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States in past cycles, free to view in each city, and is worth catching wherever it lands.

03When to arrive

If an edition is scheduled, treat it as one evening inside a Geneva auction week: arrive two days before to see the preview and the parallel sales, stay for the sale itself, and leave the next day. The travelling exhibition requires no planning at all — it is a free walk-in in whichever city hosts it.

04Where to stay

Central Geneva, on either bank. The lakefront hotels on the Rive Droite are where the auction world stays and where the previews cluster; the Rive Gauche and old town are quieter and better for eating. If the sale sits inside the May auction week, book early, because that week is busy; a November edition is easier.

05Access and hospitality

The exhibition tour is free and open to the public in every city it visits. The auction itself is a normal saleroom event: bidding requires registration with the auction house and proof of funds, but attendance in the room is generally possible for registered clients and is streamed and telephoned worldwide. Donating a watch is a matter for the brands and the association. There is no hospitality tier and no consumer ticket.

06Where the social activity happens

The exhibition rooms during the tour, which are open to anyone; the auction house's Geneva premises and the surrounding hotel bars during sale week; and the saleroom itself on the night. Because the event is charitable and the industry attends collectively, the atmosphere is more collegiate than at a commercial watch sale.

07Getting there

08Practicalities

09History

Luc Pettavino founded Only Watch in 2005 in Monaco, pairing the watch industry with a cause that had a direct family connection. Early editions were small and Monaco-based; the sale grew steadily through the 2010s, moved its center of gravity to Geneva, and by 2021 was setting records, with one Patek Philippe piece becoming the most expensive wristwatch ever sold at auction at the time.

The 2023 edition, due in November, was postponed shortly before the sale after Swiss press reporting raised questions about the association's governance and the destination of funds. The auction eventually took place in May 2024, conducted by Christie's rather than Phillips, which had run several previous editions, and raised CHF 28.3 million. In November 2024 the association announced an expansion of its research support programs and a strengthening of its governance structure. No edition has been announced since.

10Who is there

Watch collectors and their advisers; the participating houses' executives and watchmakers; auction specialists; the charity's own supporters and the Monaco community around it; and, on the exhibition tour, a general public that includes many people with no intention of bidding. Bidding itself is concentrated among a small number of serious collectors and institutions.