• Director’s watch sells for $10.8 million
• He declared bankruptcy in March

The unique watch of director Francis Ford Coppola, an F.P. Journe FFC Prototype, was offered among seven timepieces at a New York auction and sold to an anonymous phone bidder after 11 minutes, according to a press statement.

This sale marks the highest price ever achieved for a watch at auction in the U.S. since Paul Newman’s timepiece sold in 2017.

Paul Boutros, Vice President and Head of Watches for the Americas at Phillips, said: “We are thrilled with the result of Francis Ford Coppola’s F.P. Journe FFC Prototype watch. The significance of this watch, representing the pinnacle of creative collaboration between two of the greatest minds in cinema and watchmaking, cannot be overstated. There was global interest ahead of the auction, and it’s wonderful to see a record-breaking price achieved today at Phillips New York.”

The sale comes after the Oscar-winning director suffered major financial losses from his 2024 film Megalopolis, which grossed just $14.4 million worldwide despite a production budget of $120 million.

Coppola used his own funds to produce the film, which starred Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Jon Voight.

He revealed in March that he had gone bankrupt, saying: “I have no money because I invested every dollar I borrowed to make Megalopolis. The money is almost gone. I think it will come back in 15 or 20 years, but right now I have nothing.”