Auction house Phillips usually makes headlines for selling some of the world’s rarest watches, but, for the first time, it is partnering with a modern tailoring mecca, The Armoury, to sell jackets.
The Hong Kong- and New York-based menswear store produced a limited edition version of its City Hunter 2 jacket that will be sold through Phillips Perpetual. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the World Health Organization’s Covid-Solidarity Response Fund. The fund pours its global resources into studying and tracking the disease to better understand its spread, ensure patient care and develop guidelines and advice to inform the public and public policy.
“We are delighted to launch our first exclusive limited-edition Phillips Perpetual accessory to benefit the WHO Covid-Solidarity Response Fund that is providing critical response efforts in countries most affected by the pandemic and in particular accelerating efforts to develop vaccines and tests,” said James Marks, Phillips’ international specialist and director of watches. “It was a privilege to work alongside The Armoury team and Mark Cho to produce a jacket with a horological twist that I am sure the broader watch community will enjoy for many years to come. I would like to thank everyone who supports this project for such a deserving cause.”
The City Hunter 2 jacket is tailored from a special Japanese knitted jersey. Courtesy of Phillips Perpetual
Inspired by both traditional English tailoring and Spanish Teba hunting jacket styles, this iteration of the City Hunter 2 jacket is cut from supple, 100 percent wool knitted jersey developed by a Japanese mill. The innate structure of the fabric lends the piece a subtle stretch and softly tailored look with a more relaxed feel. Its exclusive design has a versatile neutral palette that features contrast cream stitching on a gray-on-dark-gray houndstooth pattern.
If any firm has what it takes to make the most of this partnership in benefit of WHO’s fund, its Phillips. Last year, the resourceful auction house broke records by selling $111 million in watches partially due to its nimble strategy of harnessing the digital marketplace.
