The watch world’s biennial charity auction is rolling around again – bringing with it a trove of interesting stories far beyond the ordinary fare of lightly tweaked one-offs
by Chris Hall

Only Watch didn’t used to be so interesting. The charity sale, which was first held in 2005 and has returned every other year since, is organised by Luc Pettavino, CEO of the Monaco Yacht Show and the president of the Association Monegasque contre les Myopathies, a foundation dedicated to developing treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Pettavino, whose son Paul died from the condition in 2016, has organised numerous auctions to raise funds, contributing more than 25m Euros to date. 
Horologically speaking it has often reflected the mood of the industry. Last time out, we saw a fantastic story from Tudor (which presaged the appearance of the Black Bay Black) and pretty much everything else struggled to make a splash – apart from Patek Philippe, which always pulls off a phenomenal price. Told you it mirrored the wider watch world… Tudor’s 2015 Only Watch creation
A lot of the time – this year being no exception – the contributing watch brands produce a lightly altered version of a current watch, usually adhering to a colour scheme for that year. Occasionally, however, they use Only Watch as an opportunity to do something truly newsworthy. We have selected the 11 entries to this year’s auction (out of a total of 49) which...