Auctions The Rolex 6062, Cartier’s Vintage Market, & The Rise Of Enamel Dials: Andrea Parmegiani On Monaco Legend's Latest Sale

When Monaco Legend Group raises the hammer at the Hôtel Méridien Beach Plaza on 31 October, the lot that’s guaranteed to pull everyone into the room is a stainless-steel watch. Specifically, a Rolex triple-calendar moon phase ref. 6062 in steel from the Goldberger Collection, complete with an explorer dial and an estimate of €1-2 million. Earlier this week, I caught up with the MLG’s Andrea Parmegiani to understand if that watch matters more today than it did at the start of September, if Cartier’s parabolic trajectory is sustaining itself, the category of collecting he thinks is only just waking up, and the pieces he'd keep himself.

Rolex's mid-September reissue of the triple-calendar moon phase - the Dynapulse escapement-equipped Padellone collection - has definitely put vintage references back in the spotlight, but Parmegiani’s careful not to overstate the effect it might have on the ref. 6062. "The announcement of the new Padellone does help,” he tells me. “It gives it a little bit more recognition, for new collectors as well, but I don't feel particularly that it's the new Padellone release that's pushing this watch. Even before the release, we could see in recent years that collectors have really started turning their eye toward the triple calendar."

In other words, beyond fresher-faced collectors unfamiliar with the 6062, the demand was already there. "It still is the Rolex holy grail vintage watch to own," he says. "Since I started working eight years ago, the increase in interest has always been incredibly strong for quality examples of the 6062." 

Without having handled the watches, it appears this one is about as good as they get. Not only due to its steel case (the rarest metal the 6062 was produced in), but also thanks to its “explorer dial” with the 3 and 9 o’clock hour markers more than resembling the numerals on the modern-day Explorer I. "The Explorer dial is one of the very, very rare designs - much rarer than a Stelline dial."

The specific example heading to auction with MLG was previously sold at Antiquorum’s "Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces" auction in October 2017.

Cartier has been on the slow rise for the last decade or so, but one of the events that put the brand on the radar of collectors who might have previously focused their attention on the blue chips of the 2010s - Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet - was MLG’s “88 Cartier” sale in 2021. Five years on, the auction house remains focused on Cartier, and the upcoming sale has plenty of serious lots, including pieces from the Madhvani collection. My question to Parmegiani was whether the incredible growth we’ve seen over the last few years was likely to continue.

"In one way, it's plateauing a little bit," he says. "But at the same time, it's still incredibly strong."

What he's certain of is how far the brand has come. "When I started working, we would put super-rare vintage Cartiers in the window of our shop in Monaco, and nobody would look at them," he recalls. "The Cartier market was really, really soft at the time." As he understands it, the shift is as much about taste as it is about Cartier. "We're in a moment where collectors are looking for the very soft, elegant pieces that can show off a little," he says. "It's not about wearing the very complicated or very important vintage piece. Cartier does it in a way that's so special, so elegant, and never too much."

Elegance is one thing, but rarity is another, and as the market has learned more about Cartier’s production volumes before the 1970s, it’s come to realise that where there’s scarcity, there’s value. "If you have a beautiful design from the '50s or '60s, it's probably a very rare watch," he says. If there's a single word for where collecting has landed today: "Design is perhaps the key word of where collectors are really aiming today."

In short, the massive growth the vintage Cartier market has seen over the last five years is impossible to maintain, but slower increases - and almost certainly no declines - are what the future is likely to hold.

One category Parmegiani (and I) is particularly excited about isn't a brand - it's a technique. Prices for vintage enamel dials have climbed sharply, and he traces the move to a small number of determined buyers. "It's just a few collectors - it doesn't take many to change a market that's already very rare on stock," he tells me. "[They realised] enamels seemed too cheap [and they decided] to buy and make a collection of the 20 best they could find."

The sale's own barometer is a Universal Genève cloisonné enamel depicting a medieval battle scene, estimated at €30,000-€60,000. "Our watch, the Universal Genève - a €15,000 to €20,000 watch a couple of years ago - is one I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches €100,000 with the premium," he says. "And should it be that price? Yes, it should."

In addition to the broader underappreciation for the works of art that vintage enamel dials are, his argument is one of relative value: "It’s the same method and the same era of important enamel production as the Vacherons, but just because they were a different, more minor brand, they were really cheap." He’s also got those Vacherons represented in the sale too, with a remarkable cloisonné dial with an estimate of €500,000–€1 million.

As for why vintage enamel commands a premium over modern executions by the most important watchmakers, Parmegiani is frank: most buyers couldn't tell you how the enamelling differs from a modern dial. "It's just the charm that comes with the vintage," he says.

Our conversation came to an end with me asking Parmegiani which watches he'd keep for himself, and his first answer didn’t require hesitation - it’s the Patek Philippe ref. 2499, first series. "The 3974 is a great watch, but the 2499 first series - I love that watch so much," he says. "This one is from 1982, and you wear it, and it feels so contemporary. It's not too big, still elegant, still classy. Almost like a modern 2499."

The Breguet Chronograph Triple Calendar Moon Phase was next on the list of pieces he’d love to add to his own collection. "It's so stunning, so beautiful," he tells me. "The dial is almost flawless, and it’s a classic design that’s really Breguet at its best."

His final pick? “The third is a really difficult battle between the oversized Vacheron Constantin Jump Hour and the platinum Audemars Piguet,” he says, taking a moment to think before confirming the Jump Hour. “It's completely timeless. The dial is unrestored with a lot of patina, but if it was brought back to fresher condition, it could literally look like a watch that came out in the '90s instead of the '30s. I love the case, the size, the original crystal, and the untouched dial, but the AP is nonetheless really exceptional too.”

The Exclusive Timepieces sale takes place at the Hôtel Méridien Beach Plaza in Monaco across 31 October and 1 November. 

The full catalogue is available on the Monaco Legend Group site here.