Following the success of two watch sales held by Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo in Geneva earlier this month, the Hong Kong Watch Auction XI totaled HK$132,335,910 / US$ 17,071,332, with an unrivalled sell-through rates of 98% sold by lot and 99% sold by value, and 83% above its pre-sale low estimate. Despite the current climate, Phillips continues to attract an increasing number of collectors, with 1,600 bidders from across 60 countries raising their paddles in room, on phone, advance bids and online, the most in any auction staged by Phillips in Asia, including an unprecedented number of 1,350 online bidders, a 12% increase compare to the last season.
“The approach of Phillips to select the highest quality and to attribute the most intelligent estimates was appreciated by the watch community who reacted with fierce bidding,” jointly said Aurel Bacs, Senior Consultant and Thomas Perazzi, Head of Watches, Asia. “Patek Philippe models once again dominated the top lots, led by reference 5104. And the sale was further complemented by the historically important Panerai collection, the ‘sleeping beauties’ that have been well kept for 40 years by a Japanese collector, sold for a total of HK$ 5.3 million/ US$683,481, over 4 times the combined pre-sale estimates. In addition, Phillips’ brand new live-stream format with dynamic camera angles brought a record number of 1,350 online bidders a unique virtual event experience. During the 8-hour marathon auction, 94% of lots received online bids with 50% of timepieces sold to online participants. Our phenomenal sale results reaffirm that collectors continue to chase the most original, best preserved and most professionally researched and presented watches. We look forward to the Racing Pulse sale in New York on 12 December, where Phillips will offer the last live watch auction of this year with many high-profile museum quality pieces, including Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona, Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco and watches from the personal collection of Sylvester Stallone such as the Panerai Luminor worn in his iconic movie Daylight.”
