The watch that marked the Swiss Christmas: the “Hyper Complication” by J. Player & Son

A British mechanical epic that turned a Geneva auction into a winter-lit nativity of wheels, gongs and moonphases.

On a freezing Swiss Christmas-season afternoon, under the amber glow of classic chandeliers, a monumental pocket watch took the stage like the jewel of a mechanical nativity scene. This British masterpiece from 1907, christened Hyper Complication, measures 77 mm in diameter and carries a large 18K yellow gold case. Inside beats a 27.5-ligne hand-wound movement (≈ 62 mm) by Nicole Nielsen & Co., featuring English lever escapement, free-sprung balance — even a double semi-helical balance spring — and ticking at 18,000 vibrations per hour with about 30 hours of power reserve. Phillips’ own catalogue underlines its colossal scale and unprecedented complexity: “measuring a monumental 77 mm, this yellow gold masterpiece combines almost every complication known at the beginning of the 20th century.”

Its exquisite white enamel dial, crafted by specialist Frederick Willis, offers almost miraculous legibility for so much information. At 12 o’clock sit the power reserve and a thermometer in degrees Fahrenheit; near 10 o’clock, a subsidiary dial for an alarm adjustable to the exact minute; around 2 o’clock, month and leap-year indications; a sweeping equation of time arc from 9 to 3; at 6 o’clock, moon phases and age of the moon; and at 8 o’clock, the date.

In sum, the Hyper Complication gathers functions that were practically inaccessible for its time: grande and petite sonnerie with three hammers, minute repeater (with quarter-chime carillon), split-seconds chronograph with 60-minute counter, perpetual calendar, moon phases, equation of time, alarm, bimetallic thermometer, power-reserve indicator and tourbillon. Each complication is an achievement in itself; taken together, they become “not only complicated but conceptually ambitious”. The hefty fluted case acts like a resonating chamber: when the sonnerie or repeater is activated, the three gongs sound with the deep cadence of a December carillon, like bells ringing under the snow.

British legend: J. Player & Son and their heirs

The story of this watch goes back to Victorian Coventry. Joseph Player founded J. Player & Son in 1858, far from London’s traditional houses, yet with a masterful hand for British precision. There, they built watches with astronomical functions, alarms and thermometers, culminating — at the turn of the 19th to 20th century — in the celebrated “Super-Complication” commissioned for banker J. P. Morgan in 1909. The 1907 Hyper Complication belongs to that lineage of mechanical marvels; Phillips describes it as a watch without equal, a rare example of English horology at its zenith.

After decades away from the spotlight, the watch resurfaced at Christie’s New York in 1993, where a collector acquired it for around US$600,000. That collector turned out to be Carl Player, great-grandson of Joseph Player, who kept the piece as a family treasure. According to reports from the event, Carl initially estimated its value at about $1.15 million, but was stunned when bidding climbed to CHF 2,238,000. Player himself commented that while holding the watch during the preview “he felt a deep connection to his ancestor”, as if the passing years were resonating through that century-old balance. In Geneva, Carl was present in the room (“with a descendant of J. Player in the auction room,” as SJX notes), reliving the legacy of his dynasty.

The Christmas-season sale: emotion in the room and final bids

The sale “Watches: Decade One (2015–2025)” took place on 8–9 November 2025 at the Hôtel Président, Quai Wilson 47, Geneva — just in time to open the Swiss Christmas season. The auction room was decked out like a golden nativity, filled with some 800 collectors and enthusiasts from all over the world. The atmosphere was one of festive camaraderie — “friendship and celebration”, in Phillips’ own words — with live, telephone and online bidding coming from all five continents.

When it was finally the Hyper Complication’s turn (Lot 39), anticipation was high. Two telephone bidders from the same country locked into a tense duel. As the hands of the clocks in the room moved slowly, tension rose minute by minute. At last, after a flurry of hammer calls, the anonymous winner secured the lot at CHF 2,238,000 (≈ €2.4 million), comfortably beating the pre-sale estimate. The figure set a world record for an antique English pocket watch. When the final hammer fell, the room is said to have erupted in contained cheers, like the closing chord of an eternal carol — a moment when time, frozen under the hammer’s blow, took on a purely human, emotional meaning.

Decade One: Phillips’ legacy in watchmaking

The Decade One sale marked the close of Phillips’ first decade in the watch market. With this “two-day, white glove” auction, Phillips celebrated a total of CHF 66.8 million in sales and 100% of lots sold. The Hyper Complication was among the key historical highlights, alongside rare steel Patek Philippes and contemporary creations. The record achieved by the Coventry watch — and the other milestones, such as the CHF 14.19 million result for the steel Patek 1518 — underscored the maturity of today’s collecting landscape and Phillips’ central role within it. In the words of its executives, these results are “a tribute to the spirit of community” formed by enthusiasts who celebrate not only watches, but the stories and emotions they carry.

For the industry, the sale confirmed that even in a fully digital age, the magic of classical haute horlogerie endures. The emblematic J. Player piece — highlighted by Phillips as “an extraordinary object… one of the most complex vintage pocket watches ever made” — is now inscribed into watchmaking’s Christmas-season history. At a time of year when time itself takes on an almost mystical aura, this watch reminds us that finding the perfect complication may well be the finest gift of all.

– BissetDuany

Sources: Phillips catalogue and press releases (Geneva, 2025); analyses by independent watch experts.