Over a single weekend, the three leading auction houses – Phillips, Sotheby’s, and Christie’s – amassed a total of $108 million in watch sales, alleviating concerns about a potential slowdown in the pre-owned watch market, according to IDEX Online.
Phillips, in collaboration with Bacs & Russo, successfully sold all lots at its Geneva Watch Auction XVII, generating over $52 million in sales. Notably, two watches fetched prices exceeding $3 million each.
Meanwhile, Christie’s sold ten watches for over $500,000 each and accumulated more than $45 million from its Rare Watches and Art of F.P. Journe sales, also held in Geneva.
Finally, Sotheby’s Geneva raked in $13 million from two sales: Important Watches and Centuries of Time: A Private Collection of decorative pocket watches.
The highest-priced watch across all three auctions was a 1988 yellow gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref 6720. It featured a pave diamond dial, sapphire indexes, and a baguette diamond bezel. Surpassing Phillips’ initial estimate of $1,340,000 to $2,680,000, the watch was sold for $4,105,853.
