Unexpected Millions? The First Big Watch Auction Results Of 2020
Both Phillips + Antiquorum Go Big In Geneva
Lots of us in the collecting world were eagerly awaiting new watch events in the first few months of 2020.
Oh, how naive we were.
Obviously COVID-19 and related world issues intervened, and there were no shows, large auctions or big sales until last weekend. The question remained for the auction houses; was the market stable enough? Were collectors worried about acquiring new pieces during these unstable times? Most importantly; would big spenders stay away?
Phillips and Antiquorum thought the reverse.
The former’s ‘Refresh: Reload’ online auction took place in May as their first digital-only affair, and all 50 watch lots sold. Word was out that dealers were moving a lot of pieces online even as the world stood still through the coronavirus crisis.
The match was lit. But what later occurred was a rocket launch.
If you were to look at the auction results and nothing else, you might think the world was in the middle of some sort of economic boom. New world records were set, and lots of commonly-available watches went for double their estimates.
It all started at Phillips last weekend, where they (finally!) held this year’s first live watch auction to occur post-COVID over two days.
A standard AP 15202, the blue-dialed 39mm watch that’s still in production by Audemars Piguet, went for almost 50,000 Swiss francs. Average price on the gray market for one of these puppies is (or was!) somewhere around 25k.
Someone bought a Rolex GMT BLNR ‘Batman’ for 25k CHF.
There are literally thousands of examples of these watches. One or many can be found in almost any country on the planet, and it’s in current production by one of the biggest Swiss watch companies. It’s also pretty easily purchased on sites like Chrono24 for 14k to 16k USD depending on country of origin and condition!
Of course we can’t go too far in this article without mentioning the big Phillips headlines- four uber-rare Pateks from the collection of former PP CEO Jean-Claude Biver sold for about 2 million bucks a piece on average. (Well, give or take a condo here or a vintage Ferrari there on either side of the deal.)
Yep, seriously.
In these times, a bunch of super-fancy Pateks hit world records.
Our favourite watch of the auction was a Patek; an early Nautilus Jumbo executed in white gold. This was one of only 11 known examples, and hammered for a rather large 740,000 CHF, around 150k above the high estimate.
And it wasn’t just the Pateks for the 1-percenters or the ‘waitlist watches’ that smashed expectations. It was also a very good day to sell (and perhaps to buy) unique and rare pieces from living haute horlogerie manufacturers.
Specifically, two F.P. Journe pieces went for way, way more than expected. This sounds like hyperbole, but the high estimate for the Journe Tourbillion Souverain at Phillips was at 300k Swiss francs. It sold for 1 million 400 thousand Swiss francs, or almost 1.5 million USD.
A Journe ‘Chronometre A Resonance’ had a high estimate of 160k Swiss francs. It sold for 1.04 million CHF, or almost 1.1 million USD. Yes. It is absolutely unprecedented for watches of this style and type to go a million and a half or so above estimate.
It’s funny, because a lot of these haute horlogerie pieces have been touted by experts and other ‘watch nerds’ as underrated for years! Compare these types of pieces to vintage Rolexes; there’s a lot less of these specific F.P. Journe watches out there than say, Paul Newman Daytonas.
Old Rollies were made on an industrial scale, and sold everywhere. These Journe watches (and similar pieces by Voutilainen, De Bethune, Moser, and possibly Lange) are handmade works of art. Many of them are made in precious metals and created over the course of years, not days. Some are unique pieces. Some do things no other watch can do.
Yet even very recently, a lot of these watches didn’t get respect in auction rooms.
Sometimes you could even find them at deep discounts at auction compared to retail. A lot of people began to think that buying a piece from one of these houses was like buying a new car; it’s fun to have and own, but in reality you’re going to take a strong depreciation hit when or if you decide to sell.
That notion has been put to rest.
Shout out to the French jeweler who initially purchased those two unique Journe watches via the maison’s subscription process; lots of people surely thought the man was throwing his money away.
The wildness continued at Antiquorum, where a trio of Rolex watches smashed records for their respective references. A COMEX 1680 Submariner, a ‘MKII’ Red Sub, and a rose-gold 6034 Oyster Chronograph all went way over their estimates.
Some conclusions can be made here; one, there’s a lot of people who see vintage watches as an asset class that’s on its way up, no matter the climate in the world. Two, people selling watches due to coronavirus uncertainty are far outnumbered by collectors looking to stock up. The COVID-19 crisis kept a lot of people inside for a long time, and in some parts of the world things like stock prices and real estate markets turned into rollercoaster rides.
So we’ve got both pent-up demand for watch events and wild times for other investments. Basically, it’s a perfect storm (or some might say perfect excuse) for watch heads to go on a bit of an acquisition spree. Plus one has to hand it to the auction houses, who did their best in finding excellent watches to sell.
When else are you going to get a chance to buy a Patek owned by Biver, or a COMEX Rolex that was barely or never used (with full papers to boot!)
Not often.
Then you couple these factors with the auction houses’ efforts to go digital and get new people involved in the bidding process. Smart moves. But are high-end watches really immune from the current world uncertainty?
Only time will tell.
Thanks for reading, and if anyone knows of any other info on new auction news, let us know!
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