The Christie’s Rare Watches auction on Tuesday, 14 May 2024 (updated date) at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, will include the ‘Property of Michael Schumacher’ section, highlighting key moments in the career of the legendary German F1 driver.
UPDATE – 14 May: Eight watches consigned from the private collection of Michael Schumacher, one of the most successful drivers in Formula One history, sold today for just under CHF 4 million (US$ 4.4 million / €4.1 million). The F.P.Journe Vagabondage, given by Jean Todt to Michael Schumacher for his seven F1 World championships sold for CHF 1,497,000, the lot 130, a special Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph achieved CHF 415,800.
The Property of Michael Schumacher
The sale marks the 30th anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s first Formula 1 Drivers Championship in 1994. The selection for the auction comprises distinguished timepieces from Audemars Piguet, Rolex (Daytona ref. 6262) and F.P. Journe.
Michael Schumacher made his Formula One debut in 1991 with the Jordan team, and won his first F1 race with Benetton at Spa. He is the first driver to win five consecutive Championship titles and seven in total. (Lewis Hamilton currently has seven Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship titles, tied with Schumacher, and four consecutive titles.)
In 2000 the iconic German driver became the Ferrari’s first champion in 21 years, then went on to win the driving title for the next four years, meaning that he achieved five consecutive World Championships with the Maranello team. In 2002 he won 11 times and finished on the podium in all 17 races.
After a temporary retirement, while he acted as Ferrari’s adviser and worked with Jean Todt, he joined the Mercedes team headed by Ross Brawn that time, by signing a three-year contract in 2010. ‘I enjoyed most of it,’ he said of the second part of his career in 2012. ‘It wasn’t as successful as before but I still learned a lot for life. I found that losing can be both more difficult and more instructive than winning. Now is a good time to go.’
Among many other charitable and philanthropic works, Schumacher was a special ambassador to UNESCO.
Michael Schumacher sustained very severe brain injury after a head trauma during a skiing accident in 2013, since he has not appeared in public. In 2017, his family founded Keep Fighting Foundation to continue the charitable work that has always been so important to him.
Eight rare and custom watches belonging to Michael Schumacher will be part of the Rare Watches auction, each indicative of a special moment in his legendary career.
Rémi Guillemin, Christie’s Head of Watches Europe and US commented: ‘Christie’s expresses sincere thanks to the Schumacher Family for their trust in us and their wish to share these masterpieces of horology with other passionate collectors around the globe. We are proud to present these iconic and unique timepieces belonging to one of the most celebrated Formula One legend. An exceptional moment, for watch and F1 enthusiasts alike. We are looking forward to meeting with passionate collectors during our international exhibitions and the auction on 13th of May in Geneva.’
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph, 2003
Schumacher won the Championship for the sixth time in 2003 at the Japanese Grand Prix. His mentor and Ferrari’s general manager back then, Jean Todt, commissioned a white-gold, 39mm Royal Oak chronograph from Audemars Piguet. Todt had the dial customised to include the team’s logo, the prancing black horse on the seconds dial, Schumacher’s helmet on the 12-hour dial, and the number one surrounded by six stars — representing his six first-places — in the 30-minute dial.
The backside of the timepiece is engraved with the years of the six World Championship wins in a laurel wreath, along with the inscription ‘J. Todt pour M. Schumacher — Noel 2003’.
F.P. Journe Vagabondage 1, circa 2004
The Schumacher selection encloses more pieces from F.P. Journe, like special ruthenium (metal belonging to the platinum group) models. An other gift from Jean Todd was a unique F.P. Journe Vagabondage 1 Model to celebrate his seventh World Championship in 2004. It has a red dial with Ferrari’s emblem, driver’s helmet and symbols representing the 7 World Championship victories for Schumacher and Ferrari. The tonneau-shaped Vagabondage features a wandering jump-hour time display – in the first generation of this model, the numerals for the hours are represented by a disk on the dial. The wandering aperture’s position indicates the minutes.
Source: press release. Photo credits: Christie’s Images Limited 2024
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