The Phillips Watch Department, based in Geneva, will partner with the firm of Aurel Bacs and Livia Russo. Bacs & Russo, specialising in Fine Collectors Watches, has been established in response to the ever-increasing need for collectors around the world to easily access scholarship, guidance and quality across the board.
The department brings together many prominent figures from the watch industry, including Nathalie Monbaron in Geneva, who will be supported by Virginie Liatard. Paul Boutros has been appointed as strategy consultant and will be Phillips' main representative in New York office.
Phillips will roll out its international Watch auction calendar with two inaugural evening sales taking place in Geneva in May 2015. The first will be a high profile various owners evening sale dedicated to the finest collectors’ pieces, spanning two centuries of watchmaking of unique quality, rarity and condition. The accompanying sale will be dedicated to one of the world’s most famous wristwatches: the Rolex Day-Date. Phillips will partner with Pucci Papaleo, one of the most eminent scholars in the world of Rolex collector’s watches. The inaugural watch auctions will take place in Geneva on Saturday, 9 May at 7PM and Sunday, 10 May at 7PM.
In the following seasons, the department plans to expand its sales calendar around the world, organising sales in flagship premises in London, New York and soon in Hong Kong.
Integral to the department will be a brokerage, based in Geneva, specialising in the highest level of private sales, assisting collectors around the globe outside of the auction season.
Under the guidance of Aurel Bacs, the Phillips Watch Department aims to lead the market thanks to its team of specialists’ second-to-none outreach within the collecting community and its uncompromising approach to quality.
On behalf of Bacs & Russo, Aurel Bacs says: “We are immensely excited to be asked to partner with Phillips as their consultants and to work with a department built from scratch. It is a privilege and a dream come true to realize a concept that Livia and I believe should be the answer to today’s ever increasing market, composed of savvy and passionate collectors. It is a pleasure to be united with many distinguished specialists from the industry that Phillips has brought together for this new department.”
Edward Dolman, Chairman and CEO of Phillips says: “I am delighted to be working once again with Aurel Bacs who has established himself as the market leading expert in this field over the last decade”.
