Ronnie Wood (far left), a guitarist for rock band The Rolling Stones, along with H.S.H Prince Albert II of Monaco (center) were among those on hand for the Only Watch charity auction in Monaco. The auction benefits research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a disease that most often impacts young boys.

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Monaco--A collection of 40 exclusive timepieces from the world’s top watchmakers sold for a collective $6.2 million at the Only Watch charity auction held last week in Monaco. The biennial auction benefits research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The auction took place Friday at the Hotel Hermitage, with H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco present. According to Antiquorum, the auction room was full, and bidders from Japan, Switzerland, Hong Kong, China and the United States participated via telephone and the Internet as well.

“Thanks to Only Watch, we are going to be able to finance ICE, a program that was started in 2008. This program brings together 15 leading teams worldwide who work on therapeutic strategies on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, in particular exon skipping, gene and cell therapies,” said Luis Garcia, research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research. “The success of Only Watch 2011 goes beyond our hopes and will undoubtedly allow us to co-finance clinical tests that have already begun and develop new research projects.”

The top watch of the day was a Patek Phillippe Ref. 3939, a 33.3mm manually wound watch with minute repeater and tourbillon movement (below). It garnered $1.9 million, more than double its highest estimated “wish price” of $800,000. 

Richard Mille’s “RM 027 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal” sold for $694,496. The tonneau-shaped watch (below) features a visible one-minute tourbillon regulator and is the watch tennis star Nadal wore when he won the Monte Carlo championships for the seventh year in a tow.

The third-highest sale of the day was DeWitt’s “Concept No. 3 ¬-- X-Watch.” This 49mm titanium and steel self-winding watch features double bi-retrograde hours and minutes, visible one-minute tourbillon and power reserve on the front and chronograph on the reverse. The X-Watch (below) sold for $558,158.

Only Watch is organized by Antiquorum Auctioneers, the Monaco Yacht Show and the Monaco Association Against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.