Auctions
Geneva Watch Auction Weekend, May 2019
Rule of Three
Without wanting to overly simplify the actually very complicated nature of the vintage watch market, there are three simple rules when taking stock of what happened and why.
• Quality is Key – Where exceptional quality watches are sold they will generally make exceptional prices. The one thing we know for sure is that the brands aren’t going to make any more vintage watches; they couldn’t even if they wanted to. So when a beautifully crisp example is presented for sale, you can bet it will do very well. Auctions are good for these pieces as the competitive bidding can help a consignor secure the best possible price. The obvious example from last weekend was the Rolex Submariner reference 5508. Nicknamed the ‘small crown’ Submariners, due to the 6mm winding crown and shoulderless case, these Subs have always been in the shadow of their ‘Big Crown’ siblings. Phillips, however, was offering the very best example ever to appear on the open market on the second night of their weekend sales. What happened? It sold for 500k – that is unprecedented and was quite a shock; but the market spoke. Of course the opposite is true as well when considering quality. Buyers are better educated then ever before and so where poor quality is offered, expect a poor result. This shouldn’t, however, be interpreted as a “softening of the market”!
Generally it seems that times are still good. Nautilus is still very strong, alongside Perpetual Daytonas. The Rolex Submariner is performing well, as seen by the 5508 and the very rare Big Crown reference 6200 (sold for nearly 600k). The Tudor military Marine Nationale (with ledger extract) was a good performer too selling at 40k. What is key with the Submariner though is quality and rarity – there are literally thousands of them out there and only the best will make such big results. And therein lies the next chapter, what will happen next to the 5508, for example? Now that the Phillips example sold for half a million Francs, will dealers and collectors have a new expectation of their values? Time will tell!