Aurel Bacs, who runs the watch department at Phillips, says the pandemic has given people more time to ponder and restructure their collections, resulting in the availability of pieces that rarely hit the market. Phillips has corralled some of the more modern into an upcoming sale to be held Nov. 7-8 in Geneva, in which it will offer examples of masterpieces made in the past 20 years. The sale will pay homage to the modern, mostly independent watchmakers who have revolutionized the field over the past two decades.
“The watchmaking industry changed more in the last 20 years than in the previous 200 years,” says Alex Ghotbi, head of watches in Europe for Phillips. We can expect to see rare pieces from the likes of MB&F, Laurent Ferrier, Richard Mille, and Urwerk, as well as important modern pieces from the usual suspects, Rolex and Patek Philippe.
Highlights so far include an F.P. Journe Resonance, a Laurent Ferrier Gallet Traveler in platinum (one of only five pieces made), and a De Bethune Titan Hawk.
To judge by Phillips’s live watch auction in Geneva in June, the sale will be a smashing success. That one totaled over $31.7 million, with a 100% sell-through rate. “It was the highest watch auction total in history (excluding charity auctions) and the first-ever white glove auction for a various owner, non-thematic auction,” says Paul Boutros, head of the watch department in the U.S. (White glove auctions are when all lots sell.) “Over 2,000 people registered online to bid, with even more watching the sale live,” he adds.
Are there some good deals among the blockbuster pieces? Sure. To find them, Bacs recommends keeping an eye out for rare pieces from independent makers that are “often sold out or have long waiting lists” for new versions.
“I think younger brands with sometimes-high retail prices can offer good opportunities,” Bacs says. “Such as the Greubel Forsey Signature 1 (60,000 Swiss francs to 120,000 Swiss francs [$66,000 to $133,000]) or the now-discontinued Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Equation of Time (25,000 to 45,000 Swiss francs).”
Sotheby’s weekly online sales in each market are also rife with bargains, because not everything that comes to auction is a grail piece. A recent New York sale included an assortment of prized nicknamed Rolexes, including a Hulk (a Submariner with green dial and bezel) that sold for $22,500; a Batman (GMT-Master II with blue and black ceramic bezel) for $17,500; a Batgirl (A newer Batman with a dressier Jubilee bracelet) for $18,750; and a Double Swiss Underline (a 1963 Daytona with two Swiss designations) for $31,250.
Coming up at the online New York auction from Sept. 15-22 is a rare, 1975, yellow gold skeletonized Audemars Piguet estimated at $4,000-6,000 and a Christiaan Van Der Klaauw planetary complication for $12,000-18,000.
In the showstopper category, a Sotheby’s sale in London on Oct. 28 will offer a collection of watches from the collection of David Salomon, an early 20th century British industrialist and world-renowned authority on Breguet. They are being sold by the L.A. Mayer Museum in Jerusalem.
Leading the sale are: a double-movement Resonance watch made for the prince regent (future King George IV of the U.K.), estimated at £400,000-£600,000 (about $514,000-$771,000); a minute repeater made for the French Duc of Praslin, estimated at £250,000-£350,000 and a thermometer watch made for Princess Caroline Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte’s sister, estimated at £200,000-£300,000.