Francis Ford Coppola’s Custom F.P. Journe FFC Watch Sells for $10.755 Million
Francis Ford Coppola’s personal F.P. Journe FFC prototype watch sold for $10.755 million, including buyer’s premium, at Phillips New York Watch Auction XIII (San Francisco Chronicle). This price set records for the most expensive F.P. Journe watch ever sold and the highest for any independent watchmaker’s timepiece at auction, topping the prior F.P. Journe mark of $8.3 million from Phillips Geneva in 2024.
The Watch Itself
Coppola co-designed this FFC prototype with François-Paul Journe. It’s one of only two in this setup, featuring a black hand and steel bridges. Handmade by Journe himself, it shows tool marks typical of prototypes. Unlike other Journe models, it stems directly from his friendship with Coppola rather than Journe’s solo concepts. Coppola wore it at the Cannes premiere of Megalopolis in May 2024, as noted in Le Monde.
Auction Details
Bidding kicked off at a $1 million reserve and hit $5 million quickly via phone lines, per Hodinkee. It slowed around $7 million but pushed past with four phone bidders battling to a $9 million hammer price. Phillips specialists Isabella Proia and Alex Ghotbi handled the final rounds, with the winner via anonymous phone bid, according to Yahoo News (archived article), which rounded the total to $10.8 million. The sale took about 11 minutes.
Coppola offered seven watches total, including Breguets and Patek Philippes, at the auction.
Why Sell?
The sale follows heavy losses on Megalopolis, which cost Coppola $120 million—mostly his own funds—and grossed just $14.4 million worldwide, as reported by Yahoo News and Le Monde. In a March podcast, Coppola said he was broke after investing borrowed money in the film. He told the New York Times in October, “I need to get some money to keep the ship afloat,” per Le Monde. Pierre Halimi of Montres Journe America noted Journe had long told Coppola to sell if needed.