7 timepiece moments in October and November 2023, from Leonardo DiCaprio raising funds for a Swiss maison and Louis Vuitton’s new tie-up, to Dubai Watch Week and Only Watch postponing its auction

Dec 4 , 2023

From left to right: MB&F released the HM11 Architect; Leonard DiCaprio joined in a US$2.3 million seed round for sustainable masion ID Geneve; Louis Vuitton teamed up with Rexhep Rexhepi on the Akrivia LVRR-01. Photos: Handout

Dubai Watch Week was a hit despite floods in the city – highlights ranged from Breitling’s new Avenger to independent brand Greubel Forsey’s Tourbillon Cardan

Winners of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève or the Watch Oscars were announced, with Audemars Piguet taking home the Aiguille d’Or grand prize

If the watch industry lacked anything over the last eight weeks as we gear up for the holiday season, it wasn’t headlines.

Watch auctions were postponed, while Dubai Watch Week pressed on despite floods. Leonardo DiCaprio threw his hat in the ring with a sustainable watchmaker, while F.P. Journe opened a restaurant in a historic address. MB&F, Oris and H. Moser & Cie, among others, released insane designs in this tail end period of the year, but Louis Vuitton’s Jean Arnault may have taken the cake with his new collaborative series with Rexhep Rexhepi.

Read on for seven of our favourite timepiece moments from October and November 2023.

1. Only Watch biennial bumper auction postponed

Luc Pettavino speaks at a previous edition of Only Watch. The 2023 edition was postponed to an unspecified date in 2024. Photo: Handout

Excitement was high through this latter half of the year after Only Watch announced its line-up of lots in June for the 10th version of its biennial auction this year. However, the auction was suddenly postponed to an unspecified date in 2024. Only Watch said in a statement that “time for certification, changes in governance and the imminent auction do not coincide”, refraining from offering further details about the situation.

Funds raised since the auction’s first edition in 2005 are said to have gone towards efforts to combat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but controversy has brewed in recent months over fund allocations, according to Only Watch’s own press release on the postponement. Only Watch provided answers regarding funding strategies, structures, projects and accounting.

F.P. Journe founder and owner François Paul Journe, who threw his support behind Only Watch 2023. Photo: Handout

To support the cause, watchmakers and high horology maisons across the industry had put forth rare and daring pieces to be auctioned off, such as Urwerk’s light sabre-esque Space-Time Blade vertical clock, and a Patek Philippe grand complication piece with an entirely original movement expected to never be made again.

However, watchmakers appear to be split by the issue. Audemars Piguet pulled its lot from the auction just a few days shy of the press release, according to multiple reports, while independent watchmaker F.P. Journe’s founder François-Paul Journe showed personal support for the auction on his Instagram around the same time.