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 recorded 182 results totaling $616,198,133, led by the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime at $31,000,000 in 2019. Patek Philippe dominates total value ($284,1
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 | 25 | $2,028,800 | $76,635,516 | 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 | 54 | $284,133,701 | Grandmaster Chime · $31,000,000 (2019) |
| Rolex | 34 | $96,749,800 | Daytona 'Paul Newman' · $17,752,500 (2017) |
| F.P. Journe | 32 | $94,258,794 | 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) |
| George Daniels | 4 | $10,131,189 | Spring Case Tourbillon · $4,092,075 (2022) |
| Cartier | 5 | $7,618,800 | Crash · $2,028,800 (2026) |
| 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% |
| 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: 2026-08-19T13:00:50.685426+00:00