How much would you be willing to pay for a pocket watch made in Coventry dating back to 1907? While the starting value that Carl Prayer (the great-grandson of the maker) had given was $1.15 million, Philips Watches confirmed that it sold for $2.76 million, which would be equivalent to 2,238,000 Swiss francs. The watch, which was auctioned in Geneva as part of the Phillips Decadentismo One auction, features an alarm, a thermometer, and moon phases. According to the auction house, the J Player & Sons Hyper Complication pocket watch set the world record for an antique British pocket watch.
J Player & Son
J Player & Son is a watch company that represents high-end English watchmaking. The company is known for manufacturing highly complex watches, with its “Supercomplication” watch being one of the most notable pieces and an example of the culmination of high-end English watchmaking. These watches are of great interest to collectors, even when compared to modern watches.
On the official Phillips website, we can find a detailed description of the piece, including the personal opinion of voices such as Logan Baker, who described it as follows: “By any measure, the J. Player & Son pocket watch coming to auction at Phillips this season is an extraordinary object. Made in 1907 and measuring a monumental 77mm in diameter, this open-face yellow gold masterpiece combines almost every complication known to watchmaking at the turn of the 20th century. It is, without exaggeration, one of the most complex vintage pocket watches ever built – and a rare surviving example of English horology operating at its absolute peak”.
World Record Auction
On November 8, 2025, an auction took place in Genoa for a piece that has made waves around the world. It is a British pocket watch made in Coventry in 1907, handcrafted by Carl Player’s great-grandfather. Its value reflected the unique characteristics it possessed. The official Phillips Watches website lists the following details:
- Grande and petite sonnerie striking on three gongs.
- Carillon trip minute repeater.
- Split-seconds chronograph with 60-minute register.
- Perpetual calendar with leap-year indication.
- Moon-phases and age of the moon.
- Equation of time.
- Alarm.
- Bimetallic thermometer.
- Power reserve indicator.
- Tourbillon.
According to the website, “Each of these features is a significant achievement on its own. Together, they create a timepiece that is not just complicated but conceptually ambitious – a complete expression of watchmaking as science and art”.
Value of the piece
Carl Player, 31 years old, estimated that the watch produced by his great-grandfather would have an estimated value of $1.15 million. However, the surprise came when, on the day of the auction, the piece was sold for a value of $2.76 million, equivalent to 2,238,000 Swiss francs. The auction house Phillips Watches described it as “one of the most complex antique pocket watches ever created”.
According to Player, “while holding the watch during the pre-sale exhibition, he felt a deep connection with his ancestor”. The event was part of the Phillips Decade One auction, which will go down in history for achieving the world record with the value of the J Player & Sons Hyper Complication pocket watch.