SINGAPORE – September 27, 2026 – FutureGrail, a Singapore-headquartered luxury watch auction house and museum with regional hubs in Geneva and Abu Dhabi, today announced “A Century of Watchmaking: One Collector’s Journey, 1923-2026”, an online-only auction of 45 lots spanning 1923 to 2026 across 20 watchmaking houses, running on 2-6 October 2026, with bidding opening at 9.00pm SGT (Singapore Time) each of the five nights.
The lot list opens with an Omega Art Deco wristwatch from circa 1923, hand-engraved in 18k gold with a hinged case, and closes with independent watchmaking delivered this year. The Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S2, one of 88 pieces made and unworn since leaving the manufacture, is the sale’s most valuable lot and the first of its series to reach auction.
Vintage highlights include a Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 96 from 1946, the first Calatrava reference, offered in steel on its original Gay Frères bracelet, and a Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675/3 known as the “Root Beer,” with raised gold nipple markers and a brown-and-gold bezel. A Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Ref. 270.2.62, one of 120 pieces made in rose gold, conceals an enamel dial inside its reversible case. An F.P. Journe Octa Divine in platinum, originally retailed by Mercury in Moscow, represents an era of independent watch collecting that has largely disappeared from the market.
Among the vintage highlights is a Patek Philippe Ref. 1579 chronograph with tachometer scale, one of an estimated 250 examples produced in 18k yellow gold with the reference’s “spider lugs” case. Patek Philippe’s own Extract from the Archives confirms the watch as a First Series 1579 manufactured in 1943 and sold on July 11, 1944. Christie’s auction records trace its ownership to the Mel Blanc Collection, the estate of the actor who voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, and other Warner Bros. characters until his death in 1989. The watch sold at Christie’s New York in the Mel Blanc Collection sale on October 29, 1997, again at Christie’s New York in its December 2012 Important Watches sale, as Lot 53, for USD 45,000 against an estimate of USD 30,000 to USD 50,000, and a third time at Christie’s New York in its 2018 “An Evening of Exceptional Watches” sale.
“Since purchase the Rolex Cellini Prince Ref. 5440/8 is unworn, unpolished, and never serviced, which is exactly the condition collectors of a discontinued line are chasing,” said Ali Nael, CEO of FutureGrail. “Presenting it alongside a brand-new Greubel Forsey lets bidders see a century of watchmaking decisions in a single sale.”
FutureGrail’s Head of Curation, Arnaud Tellier, spent 12 years as director and curator of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. That background shaped the sale’s emphasis on documentation, which the house treats as central to fair valuation.
The Breguet Tradition Chronograph 7077BR exposes its chronograph mechanism directly on the dial, while the Trilobe Les Matinaux dispenses with hands entirely, telling time through three rotating rings in rose gold. A Universal Genève Compax Ref. 1320 carries a salmon dial in 18k red gold with sculptural “big horn” lugs, and a Rolex Day-Date II Ref. 218206 pairs a 41mm platinum case with the ice-blue dial the brand reserves for platinum models.
“A collection built across a century forces you to look at watchmaking as a continuous conversation between houses, not a series of isolated releases,” said Ali Nael, CEO of FutureGrail. “That is the story this catalogue tells, from a 1923 Omega to a Greubel Forsey that left the workshop this year.”
Bidding for A Century of Watchmaking: One Collector’s Journey, 1923-2026 runs online through the FutureGrail auction platform across five nights, 2-6 October 2026, with each session opening at 9.00pm SGT (Singapore Time). Catalogue details and condition reports are available to registered bidders ahead of each night’s session.
About FutureGrail
FutureGrail is a luxury watch auction house and museum headquartered in Singapore, with regional hubs in Geneva and Abu Dhabi, running year-round online auctions such as A Century of Watchmaking: One Collector’s Journey, 1923-2026 alongside a physical horology museum, a bonded vault facility, and an in-house watch service centre. The house combines a proprietary auction platform with in-house horological expertise to authenticate, valuate, and market timepieces to a global community of collectors, led by Head of Curation Arnaud Tellier, formerly of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva, and founder and CEO Ali Nael, a collector since 2009. FutureGrail’s mission is to democratise watch collecting by making expert knowledge and access available to every collector, not only an established few.
Media ContactCompany Name: FutureGrailContact Person: Jay KauEmail: Send EmailCountry: SingaporeWebsite: www.futuregrail.com
