Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning off a custom $1million (£750,000) watch, following the box office failure of his 2024 film Megalopolis.
The epic sci-fi drama was a passion project of the celebrated filmmaker, who put up some of his own money to get the movie made. It told the story of an alternate New York City (called “New Rome”) and follows the battle between an architect (Adam Driver) and a corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) over their visions for the future of the city.
The film received poor reviews and was a box office bomb, making $14.4million (£10.6million) against a budget estimated to be between $120-136million (£88.8million-£100.7million).
Now, reportedly in hopes of recouping a portion of the sunken costs, Coppola is selling seven timepieces in an auction set to take place on December 6 and 7 at the New York City auction house Phillips.
The key piece up for auction in the so-called “Coppola Collection” is the F.P. Journe FCC Prototype, which Coppola made with famed watchmaker Francis-Paul Journe. It features a “black-treated titanium hand,” which was developed over the span of nearly a decade’s worth of conversations between Journe/his staff and Coppola, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The hand was inspired by a 16th-century prosthetic crafted by French physician Ambroise Paré, and tells the time via “the fingers and thumb extending or retracting in a set of sequences that indicate different hours.”
The minutes are “determined by a white rotating ring around the perimeter.” It’s one of only three versions ever made by Journe, with the last watch selling at a 2021 charity auction for 4.5million Swiss francs (£4.2million).
Another standout piece in the collection is the Chronomètre à Résonance, which was gifted to Coppola by his late wife Eleanor Coppola. The timepiece is accompanied by “an advertisement for the Résonance, which Francis Ford Coppola saved and was later found by his wife, leading to the gift.” That watch is set to be auctioned for between $120,000 and $240,000.
Other pieces included in the collection are a Blancpain Minute Repeater (auctioning for between $15,000 and $30,000); a Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 3919 (auctioning for between $6,000 and $12,000); and a Patek Philippe World Time ref. 5130G (auctioning for between $15,000 and $30,000).
Two final watches, carry no reserve (i.e., no minimum price): a BreguetClassique ref. 5140 (auctioning between $4,000 to $8,000) and an IWC Portugieser (auctioning between $3,000 to $6,000).
In February, the Godfather filmmaker was named Worst Director at the 2025 Razzie Awards, to which he responded on Instagram: “I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award in so many important categories for @megalopolisfilm, and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!”
In a two-star review of the film, NME‘s Lou Thomas wrote: “On paper, this may sound like a slightly zany sci-fi take on a noir film but Megalopolis has to be seen to be believed. The dialogue and acting is heightened, skewed and bizarre, lurching from fascinating philosophical arguments to nonsense rhymes and non-jokes. The meshing of styles doesn’t always make sense and is sometimes difficult to follow. The visuals, similarly, are often incredible and sometimes ridiculous.”
In other news, back in September, a clip was shared of Shia LaBeouf having an argument with Coppola during the making of the film.
English (US) · 