Francis Ford Coppola‘s custom watch has now sold for $10.8 million.
On Saturday, Coppola’s one-of-a-kind F.P. Journe FFC Prototype — which he also co-designed — was among seven watches offered at Phillips’ New York auction. The wristwatch sold to an anonymous phone bidder after 11 minutes of bidding, according to a press release. The sale marks the highest price achieved for a timepiece at auction in the U.S. since Phillips’ sale of Paul Newman’s Rolex “Paul Newman” Daytona in 2017.
“We were thrilled by the result of Francis Ford Coppola’s F.P.Journe FFC Prototype. The importance of this watch, which represents the ultimate creative collaboration between two of the greatest minds in cinematic and horological history, cannot be overstated,” Paul Boutros, deputy chairman and head of watches, Americas at Phillips,” said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We had interest from across the globe in the lead-up to the sale, and it was wonderful to see the well-deserved world record result in Phillips’ New York saleroom today.”
The sale also comes after the Oscar winner took a huge financial hit from 2024’s Megalopolis, which grossed only $14.4 million worldwide, despite costing $120 million to make. Coppola used his own money to make the feature, which starred Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza, Nathalie Emmanuel and Jon Voight. The filmmaker also wore the watch, which was estimated be worth at least $1 million, when Megalopolis premiered at Cannes in May 2024.
In March, Coppola revealed he is broke on a Tetragrammaton podcast appearance. “I don’t have any money because I invested all the money that I borrowed to make Megalopolis,” he said. “It’s basically gone. I think it’ll come back over 15 or 20 years, but I don’t have it now.”
