Christie's Geneva auction of luxury watches fetches big bucks

KOLKATA: On 10 & 11 November, Christie's Geneva three-session auction of important watches realised an unprecedented combined total of $43,985,467/ SFr.40,273,663/€32,823,824, the highest result for a series of watch sales ever held. On 11 November, the various-owner Important Watches sale totalled $30,737,300/SFr.28,240,813/€22,956,887, selling 92% by lot and 95% by value.

The previous night, Rolex Daytona "Lesson One" -a unique single-themed evening auction featuring 50 exceptional examples of the world's most celebrated chronograph wristwatch, totalled $13,248,167/SFr.12,032,850/ €9,866,937, selling 100% by lot and by value. Each Daytona set a world record price for the model at auction. The top lot of the week was a 1957 Patek Philippe second series in pink gold, which sold for $2,160,474/Sfr.1,985,000.

Aurel Bacs, international head of Christie's Watch Department, declared: "On 10 and 11 November, Christie's dispersed over 370 fine watches in an historical ten-hour auction marathon, which set a new record total for any series of watch sales. In the past months, we exhibited highlights in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, New York, Paris, Dubai and in all locations we noticed an ever-growing appetite for high quality collector's watches.

"This trend was demonstrated by a fiercer-than-ever competition generated by both experienced and new international bidders, in the room, on the telephone and online. Patek Philippe and Rolex were the stars, confirming that rare timepieces have to be considered as true works-of-art. Repeatedly interrupted by the applauding audience, the last exciting session of the week was crowned by a standing ovation".