Monte Carlo, Monaco – Reported by Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle magazine
This past weekend, horology lovers from around the globe came together to buy time and better lives for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at the fourth biennial Only Watch Charity Auction.
Housed at the illustrious Hotel Hermitage in Monaco, the auction followed a summer-long traveling exhibit of timepieces from the world’s most prestigious watchmakers. Online and call-in connoisseurs bid on the 40 innovative watches showcased, along with collectors brimming the auction room—including prominent personalities like Ronnie Woods of the Rolling Stones. International participants from the United States to Hong Kong to Switzerland raised a whopping $6.2 million. The Patek Phillippe brought in the highest bid of almost $560,000.
Many of the auction’s organizers and supporters, including Prince Albert II of Monaco, expressed delight at the diverse and often competing groups that were happy to rally around a humanitarian cause. Plaguing 1 in 3,500 boys, Duchenne muscular dystrophy weakens the muscles in early childhood and can become fatal in the late teenage years, due to damage to the lungs and heart. The funds from the auction—organized by Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies, Antiquorum Auctioneers and the Monaco Yacht Show—will support research, scientific roundtables and therapy strategies for the genetic disease.