Zinedine Zidane’s Cartier Pasha, bought with his first professional pay at Bordeaux, was knocked down at CHF 80.000 / US$ 97.067 in Geneva on 9 November for ELA International, the charity he has backed since 2000 and whose international body is based in Luxembourg.
Shortly before he met Guy Alba to talk about donating a personal watch, Zinedine Zidane took the one he values most out of his safe and sent it for servicing. Alba puts it down to chance. On 9 November, at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, Christie’s knocked that watch down at CHF 80.000 / US$ 97.067, four times the top of its estimate.
The proceeds go to ELA, the European Leukodystrophies Association, which funds research into rare genetic diseases that destroy the protective sheath around nerve fibres. According to ELA, 20 to 40 children are born with them every week in Europe. Its international body has been based in Luxembourg since 2015. Zidane, ELA’s patron since 2000, auctioned the first lot at the charity’s inaugural Watches for ELA sale in 2024. This time he gave something of his own.
It is a Cartier Pasha, a stainless-steel quartz chronograph from around 1990 with a 38 mm case. It was “the first watch I bought for myself with my first salary when I was playing in Bordeaux,” Zidane said in a statement in June. “I purchased it nearly thirty-five years ago, and it has remained with me ever since.”
Alba, who founded ELA in 1992, was looking for an ambassador after Zidane’s 1998 World Cup win. A childhood friend, Michel Platini, passed Zidane a letter, and the two met in Turin in the spring of 2000. Of the 26 years since, Alba said: “His word is gold. He says what he does and does what he says.” Alba said he realised Zidane was offering more than an object: “A gift far greater than the value of the watch. A gift of himself.”
Christie’s sold the watch with no reserve. Christie’s Global Head of Watches Rémi Guillemin said Zidane wanted it that way, so that the piece would go to the collector who valued it most. The house had estimated it at CHF 10.000 to 20.000 / US$ 12.275 to 24.549, before fees. Such a lot is priced on rarity, condition and collector demand, Guillemin said, and on a story that is easy to grasp: everyone remembers a first watch.
The saleroom was warm, with dealers and collectors greeting each other like old friends. It was also a day for F.P. Journe. Five of his watches from Michael Schumacher’s collection, numbered 92/99 and offered to mark 30 years of Schumacher’s association with Ferrari, sold earlier in the day, the best two at CHF 1.536.000 / US$ 1.885.409 each, with fees. François-Paul Journe himself, who made the watches, was in the room, and his presence spurred the bidders to bid and bid again.
For the house, it was a record day. Its live auction totalled CHF 47.824.592 / US$ 58.703.706, the highest for a Christie’s watch sale, with every lot sold. Bidders registered from 66 countries, and 40% of registrants were Millennials and Gen Z, Christie’s said.
Two dealers in Geneva belong to that younger generation: Alessandro Fanciulli and Arthur Pfister, who is from Luxembourg. They are 30 and 31, and sell almost entirely online. They call themselves vintage watch dealers and curators, with 50.000 and 10.000 followers on Instagram (@mr.a and @arthurodruo). “From the most famous rappers to tech moguls, we have placed some of the finest time pieces in the best collections around the world,” they say. Provenance interests them, they said, but only up to a point. The watch itself has to be interesting first.
Watches for ELA, the charity section of the sale, raised CHF 501.400 / US$ 615.458 (hammer) from 20 watch brands and Zidane’s Pasha, according to Christie’s. The Pasha alone made up about 16% of that. ELA says it has funded 601 research programmes, worth €51.9 million, since 1992. Christie’s release does not say whether the buyer’s premium reaches the charity as well.
Zidane stays, Alba said, because there is still much to do: “The game is not yet won.”
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