Phillips Auction House Wraps Up Year With Record Watch Sales
It's been a wild and wonderful ride at auction this year for timepieces. As the month of December sees several final auctions, we are already getting great results — results that bode well for the argument that a watch is a fine investment in your future.
Just this week, Phillips Auction House sold, among others, several watches previously owned by watch lover and musician Eric Clapton. The auction, which concluded on Tuesday, November 29, along with a Rolex Milestones auction the House held the evening before, achieved almost $25.5 million in sales.
Just this week, Phillips Auction House sold, among others, several watches previously owned by watch lover and musician Eric Clapton. The auction, which concluded on Tuesday, November 29, along with a Rolex Milestones auction the House held the evening before, achieved almost $25.5 million in sales.
In its sale a couple of weeks ago, Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo, sold a Patek Philippe watch that achieved a world record — selling for $11 million. The watch had been made in 1943 and a was a stainless steel Reference 1518 perpetual calendar chronograph with moon phase. In that auction, a total of nearly 180 watches from more than a dozen different brands sold — to the tune of $27.8 million.
According to Aurel Bacs, senior consultant with Phillips, the world record accomplishment "is a strong testimony that the watch market is universally accepted as an important pillar of the international art collector community."