Auctions have become really global and the final prices achieved often surprise the experts as items get sold for even over nine times the pre sales estimates. Antiquorum held a very successful auction on May 13 for Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces. There were a total of 469 modern and vintage timepieces that attracted lively bidding from bidders in the room as well as on the phone and the net. The participants came from all over the world including from Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Russian Federation, Germany, the United States as well as Switzerland.
Julien Schaerer, Managing Director, Antiquorum Geneva was very happy with the result and said that there was a clear demand for timepieces of the highest quality produced by the recognized and respected brands. The Patek Philippe World Time with guilloche dial sold for an impressive 1,190,500 CHF, over twice is low estimate. A Rolex Submariner that belonged to former Mossad Director, Isser Harel also saw some aggressive bidding. It ultimately went to an American bidder who was participating on phone, for a staggering CHF 248,500 which was nearly nine times the value of the pre sales estimate. It is clear now that the collectors are willing to pay big bucks for extremely rare and historically significant timepieces.
There were several other pieces that achieved much higher prices than their estimates. Two othe Rolex lots namely 287 and 459 achieved CHF 62,500 and CHF 60,000 respectively. Enamel pocket watches seemed to be another favorite of the bidders. A Patek Philippe with miniature portrait of General Lafayette was sold for CHF 134,500 where as the Vacheron & Constantin’s “The Lacemaker” with enamel scene by Charles Poluzzi achieved an incredible CHF 206,500 which was over ten times its optimistic estimate. The watches from the property of a Japanese collector also received a good response and higher than estimated prices. A German collector had also brought pieces for the auction that are rarely seen at auctions. Antiquorum will be holding its next auction on June 12 in New York.
