Dear watch aficionado.
For the May auctions this year there were again some nice and interesting watches to see. But as always it is pretty tricky to filter the good ones from the bad ones ;)
I am happy to see the pocket watches coming back to the game again and that they finally get the prices they deserve. I mean, watchmaking history is a bit more than only since the 2000s. In the past the 300 plus years of watchmaking history were totally forgotten, which made me quite sad. But I really hope that this trend keeps on going, and if the handful of big collectors who are buying pocket watches at the moment have completed their collections, that there will be others.
Was great to see that at Sotheby's the Lange pocket watches got pretty nice prices with the Grande Complications sold for about 1 587 000 million CHF all in, the Triple Complications sold for 332 000CHF and the Chronometer Detent for 70 400CHF. The beautiful Rolex 6239J Paul Newman John Player Special, which came from the family of the original owner sold for short off 1,2 millions CHF all in. Whereas the 6241 JPS was in not so good shape, re-lumed, etc... and it sold for 640000 CHF all in.
Sotheby's had as well for their New York auction the Steve McQueen Tag Heuer Monaco on preview. This is the watch that he did wear during the filming of the movie LE MANS. The watch comes as well with tons of documents, photos, etc. Was pretty cool ;) to see this watch and hold it in the hands.
Here are some favorite watches of mine from the Phillips auction. Some of them were sold during the Geneva auction, others will be available in Hong Kong or New York.
This is my dream of a photo, which I was able to make. And to see these 5 absolutely extraordinary and breathtaking timepieces together was really something special. The unique Audemars Piguet Double Complications sold for short off 1,1 millions CHF, which still is a bargain I'd say, because I see this watch as a feature timepiece. The Charles De Gaulle Agassiz Worldtime pocket watch sold for short off 1,5 millions CHF, which is as well a bargain I'd say regarding its historical importance from the World War II. The Patek Philippe 2523 émail South America performed pretty well and sold for short off 8 millions CHF to one of the greatest collectors, pretty much a bargain, I'd say. That watch in some years will break some records. The Patek Philippe 2499R 1st series Vichet will be sold in Hong Kong and the Patek Philippe 1518R will be sold in New York, which is still a 1518R, but far away from being untouched.
The Karl Geitz sold for 355000CHG
The Golay with équation de temps for 647000CHF
The Paul Ditisheim for 1 270 000CHF
The Louis Audemars for 2 516 000CHF
The Independents got as well pretty good result, some which I understand, others not really. But will be interesting to see the next five to ten years if some of these independents will still have such big results or not. Here is a photo I took of the two beautiful Urban Jürgensen, Derek Pratt/Peter Baumberger era, Reference 2 Prototype and the Reference 6. The Ref2 made 508000CHF and the Ref6 made 152400CHF.
The François Paul Journe timepieces had very strong results and confirmed their status in the watch collecting community. The Résonance 18/00R made 4 875 500CHF. The Octa Chronographe 021/01C straight côte de Genève made 1 714 500CHF. The Haldimann H1 Tourbillon sold for 482 600CHF. The Lange 101.002, which had only the original guarantee with it, no other original accessories, sold for 35 560CHF.
At Christie's as well a beautiful Urban Jürgensen, Derek Pratt/Peter Baumberger Reference 2 in white gold sold for 152 400CHF.
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Kind regards.
ChB
www.watchcollector.lu
