Proprietary index · the segment others exclude
The Grail Index
A transparent, transaction-based record of the $1,000,000-and-up watch market — the ultra-high end that ChronoPulse, WatchCharts and Subdial leave out. Every figure is a documented auction result, with sample sizes disclosed. Not a modelled tick; the real shape of the top.
Between 2002 and 2026, the $1M+ segment generated 197 results totaling $718,873,815, led by the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime at $31,000,000. Patek Philippe ($287,811,701), Rolex ($182,309,800), and F.P. Journe ($104,283,352) dominate total value, followed by Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet. Volume trended upward in recent years, moving from 18 results in 2021 to 40 in 2026, though dropping to 14 in 2025. Medians ranged from $1,500,000 (2022) to $3,285,500 (2021), with top lots reaching $17,300,000 in 2024 and $17,631,075 in 2025.
The segment by year
| Year | $1M+ results | Median | Total | Top lot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 1 | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | Cartier Tortue Minute Repeater · $1,500,000 |
| 2005 | 2 | $2,159,500 | $4,319,000 | Vacheron Constantin King Fouad I Pocket Watch · $2,755,000 |
| 2009 | 1 | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 | Patek Philippe Minute Repeating Perpetual Calendar · $1,200,000 |
| 2010 | 1 | $5,708,885 | $5,708,885 | Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph · $5,708,885 |
| 2012 | 2 | $1,886,630 | $3,773,260 | Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph · $2,750,760 |
| 2013 | 5 | $2,186,081 | $14,965,717 | Patek Philippe Split-Seconds Chronograph Perpetual Calendar · $8,293,700 |
| 2014 | 1 | $24,000,000 | $24,000,000 | Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication · $24,000,000 |
| 2015 | 6 | $4,139,000 | $26,165,348 | Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260 · $8,000,000 |
| 2016 | 4 | $1,789,950 | $15,736,541 | Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph · $11,136,642 |
| 2017 | 8 | $2,763,000 | $38,356,811 | Rolex Daytona 'Paul Newman' · $17,752,500 |
| 2018 | 8 | $2,412,461 | $24,450,664 | Rolex Cosmograph Daytona "The Unicorn" · $5,936,906 |
| 2019 | 9 | $1,940,000 | $51,472,250 | Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime · $31,000,000 |
| 2020 | 10 | $2,129,000 | $23,883,947 | Rolex Cosmograph Daytona "Big Red" · $5,475,000 |
| 2021 | 18 | $3,285,500 | $62,132,876 | Patek Philippe "Eurasia" World Time · $7,819,051 |
| 2022 | 21 | $1,500,000 | $40,217,086 | George Daniels Spring Case Tourbillon · $4,092,075 |
| 2023 | 20 | $1,575,042 | $50,220,932 | Patek Philippe World Time 'North America' · $8,530,000 |
| 2024 | 26 | $2,132,000 | $82,874,057 | Patek Philippe Grande Sonnerie Only Watch · $17,300,000 |
| 2025 | 14 | $3,271,500 | $68,585,243 | Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph · $17,631,075 |
| 2026 | 40 | $2,400,000 | $179,311,198 | F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance “Souscription No. 007” · $13,922,000 |
Makers that dominate the grail tier
| Brand | $1M+ results | Total value | Top result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patek Philippe | 57 | $287,811,701 | Grandmaster Chime · $31,000,000 (2019) |
| Rolex | 41 | $182,309,800 | Daytona 'Paul Newman' · $17,752,500 (2017) |
| F.P. Journe | 36 | $104,283,352 | Chronomètre à Résonance “Souscription No. 007” · $13,922,000 (2026) |
| Richard Mille | 16 | $29,771,479 | Tourbillon Sapphire · $4,548,000 (2023) |
| Audemars Piguet | 10 | $24,249,907 | Grosse Pièce · $7,736,000 (2025) |
| Philippe Dufour | 5 | $14,544,401 | Grande et Petite Sonnerie No. 1 · $5,182,109 (2021) |
| Vacheron Constantin | 3 | $12,319,000 | Reference 57260 · $8,000,000 (2015) |
| Cartier | 6 | $11,031,924 | Cheich Unique Piece · $3,413,124 (2026) |
| George Daniels | 4 | $10,131,189 | Spring Case Tourbillon · $4,092,075 (2022) |
| Omega | 3 | $6,641,000 | Speedmaster Broad Arrow · $3,400,000 (2021) |
| Breguet | 1 | $6,617,010 | Sympathique Clock and Wristwatch · $6,617,010 (2025) |
| Rexhep Rexhepi | 3 | $6,365,852 | AK-06 · $3,861,000 (2026) |
| Heuer | 3 | $5,856,000 | Monaco · $2,208,000 (2020) |
| Greubel Forsey | 2 | $4,998,000 | Quadruple Tourbillon · $2,898,000 (2022) |
| Kari Voutilainen | 3 | $4,748,200 | Masterpiece Chronograph II · $1,842,500 (2026) |
Repeat references — the same watch, sold again
References documented changing hands in more than one year, with the change between first and most recent result.
| Reference | Span | Appearances | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolex Cosmograph Daytona "Big Red" 6263 | 2015–2024 | 5 | +280.8% |
| F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance "Sincere Fine Watches" RN | 2022–2025 | 2 | +184.6% |
| F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain Ref. T T | 2025–2026 | 2 | +173.9% |
| Patek Philippe Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar 3974 | 2009–2024 | 2 | +50.8% |
| F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain TN "Régence Circulaire" TN | 2022–2025 | 3 | +36.6% |
| Cartier Crash London Crash | 2022–2026 | 2 | +36.2% |
| Rolex Daytona 'Paul Newman' 6239 | 2016–2026 | 3 | +16.8% |
| Patek Philippe "South America" World Time 2523 | 2019–2026 | 4 | +14.3% |
| Philippe Dufour Duality No. 08 Duality | 2017–2024 | 3 | +14.2% |
| Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar 'Senza Luna' 3448 | 2019–2026 | 3 | +12.6% |
| Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph (First Series) 2499 | 2012–2024 | 6 | -5.8% |
| Rolex Triple Calendar "Padellone" 8171 | 2013–2016 | 2 | -10.9% |
| Rolex Split-Seconds Chronograph 4113 | 2016–2019 | 2 | -21.2% |
| Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar (Mid-century) 2497 | 2023–2026 | 2 | -26.8% |
| Heuer Monaco 1133B | 2020–2024 | 2 | -34.8% |
| Rolex Daytona "John Player Special" 6241 | 2023–2026 | 3 | -35.6% |
| Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph 1518 | 2016–2026 | 7 | -64.2% |
| Patek Philippe Nautilus 'Tiffany Blue' 5711/1A-018 | 2021–2026 | 3 | -75.4% |
| Rolex Triple-Calendar Moonphase 'Bao Dai' 6062 | 2017–2023 | 5 | -77.5% |
Methodology
The Grail Index tracks every documented auction result at or above $1,000,000 in MostExpensiveWatches' comp corpus — the ultra-high-end segment broad-market indices exclude. Figures are realized hammer prices including buyer's premium where reported. Annual aggregates show the segment's real trajectory; repeat-reference rows track the same reference across multiple sales. Sample sizes are disclosed for every cohort; this is a transparent historical record, not a modelled live tick.
Machine-readable (schema.org Dataset, CC-BY 4.0): /data/grail-index.json.
Cite as “MostExpensiveWatches Grail Index”. See also the daily
Price Index, the Weekly Market Brief
and auction recaps.
Last compiled: 2026-10-09T13:01:02.829559+00:00