Rolex, Patek, Tudor and TAG plus 34 other brands to show at Watches and Wonders in April
I will be perfectly honest, ever since starting to write about watches, my sincere wish has been to meet up with the Time+Tide team at Basel, SIHH or even some far-flung Far Eastern destination. But then, KER-CLUNK! It was as if a giant hand pulled down a large POWER OFF handle, the lights dimmed and it all went eerily quiet. COVID-19 signalled the temporary end of watch fairs. Yet thanks to the determination of Jean-Christophe Babin at Bulgari and various other horological powerhouses that pulled together Geneva Watch Days, things didn’t end as glumly as they might have. The GWD sent a signal to the world that we might be looking at a new future of watch fairs that are up close and personal (well, as close and personal as you can get with a mask on ). Now Watches and Wonders have announced their 2021 dates and it’s “phygital”! Yes, Watches and Wonders, the extravagantly monikered version of SIHH, is now back according to the press release (phygital is a cross between physical and digital, apparently). Five main brands are on board for the 2021 Watches & Wonders Geneva digital show: Rolex, Tudor, Patek Philippe, Chopard, and Chanel. They…
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I did choose to be very optimistic in my story last week about the astounding Vacheron Constantin Tour de L’Ile reaching a cool record $3 million to kick off a healthy 2021. The estimate was set at Antiquorum’s Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces in Monaco to a spread of $1.8 – $3 million. But the watch didn’t make it – far from it, in fact – ending up selling for a paltry $1.2 million plus buyer’s premium. This begs the questions: are we merely looking at early signs of a fickle market in this astronomical price range? Or does this suggest another year of tumbling auction sales? This VC sold for $2.1 million when it was produced, bearing in mind that at that time is was the most complicated men’s wristwatch ever made. Having just sold for less than $1.5 million, in the world of uber complex Haute Horlogerie this surely constitutes a bargain? Relatively speaking, of course. As in selling all the houses of my close family might make me able to afford said bargain. Yet analysing the other top lots in this Antiquorum auction, the market ultimately still seems healthy if slightly unpredictable, and maybe in a transformative phase…
This might be exactly what we need to start 2021 with a BANG, and signal what we all hope is a strong year of growth for both the watch industry and consumer market in general. Auction results are a very important marker of the market temperature, and as WatchPro reminded us, this weekend sees the auction of the thoroughly mind-bending form of the Vacheron Constantin Tour de L’Ile, a vastly complex and equally dazzling micro-engineered piece of horological art. Everything is in place for a new auction record and a flying start to the year. The Vacheron Constantin Tour de L’Ile boasts a frankly incomprehensible 834 components and took 10,000 hours to complete. With two dials – both front and back – and everything from a minute-repeating complication to a tourbillon and equation of perpetual time, this is one of Vacheron Constantin’s ventures into the absolute highest echelons of haute horlogerie. Utterly beguiling, this 18-carat rose-gold wristwatch (if we can even call it that) sold for an original $2.1 million in 2005, and is estimated on the block for around $3 million this weekend. Is this the kick-off we need for a fresh 2021?, I have high hopes. Have…
Nothing over $1 million can really be called a bargain. Particularly when it’s a mere wristwatch from the Swinging Sixties. Yet we all know the stratospheric values paid for Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona 6241. The first one went for a mind-boggling and (then) world record $17.8 million USD back in 2017. Fast forward to the here and now. We are at the end of 2020, a year of slow turnover sure, but not across the board – the huge Chinese market has already picked up with YOY sales considerably up from 2019. But earlier this month, Racing Pulse – a New York auction by Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo – sold Paul Newman’s other Daytona. This one had a dark reverse panda dial and was still delightfully clean and crisp after half a century. Being a significant Rolex, this was snapped up for $5,475,000 US – a considerable sum, of course, but a relative bargain compared to Newman’s previous Daytona, given that it sold for 70 per cent less. The Phillips/Bacs & Russo auction still achieved some phenomenal results. It included a record sale for any Heuer, the iconic Heuer Monaco ref. 1133 owned by Steve McQueen –…
The lockdown in Melbourne has made us miss a lot of things. An avocado-heavy brunch with friends. A cocktail at Eau-de-Vie. And also the opening of the brand new Jaeger-LeCoultre Melbourne boutique. You heard me correctly, Jaeger-LeCoultre has a new home in Melbourne at the Paris end of Collins Street, right next to its Richemont stablemates, Vacheron Constantin and Cartier. This is the second part of an Australian expansion by the brand, with the first-ever boutique in the country opening in Sydney last year. At the time, Justin Devaux, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Country Manager of Australia and New Zealand, explained the decision behind the expansion as a part of a longer-term strategy to “immerse the customer in the brand universe”. Mr Devaux went on to add, “I think overall that everybody is looking quite optimistically at the market in Australia. On our side we definitely expect to have a bright future in Australia, but Jaeger-LeCoultre is not an easy brand to understand, and is one that has mastered so many different areas of craftsmanship that you need to have a specific boutique to be able to have the time and expertise to explain the range of the skills we are offering with…
Last night saw the Phillips’ and Blackbird thematic auction Retrospective: 2000 – 2020 play out, with some truly incredible watches reaching truly incredible prices. Two that I wanted to focus on were a pair of watches that are at the same time very similar and very different. Both are handmade. Both are three-handed dress watches in precious metal. Both could be argued as examples of the finest watchmaking from their respective countries. However one is from Switzerland, and the other is from Japan. I am of course talking about the Philippe Dufour Simplicity 20th Anniversary No. 00/20 and the Seiko Credor Eichi II in platinum. Despite being produced on different sides of the globe, both of these watches have a story that is more intertwined than you might expect. It is well documented that Mr. Dufour himself was a teacher to the master watchmakers at the Micro Artist Studio at Seiko’s factory in Shiojiri. Specifically sharing his knowledge of movement decoration and how to make watches that would have longer lives on the wrists of their owners. In this sense, it is a story that is already set up with Philippe Dufour as the master, and the watchmakers of the Micro Artist…
It feels like a lifetime ago that I was heading home from the DOXA Australia Launch Event to pack my bags for Dubai Watch Week 2019. Since then, the global pandemic put a stop to any in-person watch events (with the exception of the LVMH Watch Week and more recently at a socially distanced Geneva Watch Days), which included the demise of the longest-running watch event in the world – Baselworld. But the youth of Dubai Watch Week gives it an advantage against the traditional trade show. Flexibility. And this year the organisers of Dubai Watch Week are demonstrating their dynamism with the Horology Forum 2020 to be held virtually. The Horology Forum 2020 began last night in earnest, with a panel debating the nature of the grey market. RedBar founder Adam Craniotes said in the session, which can be viewed at the link below, that “the grey market is a creation of the brands, and they need to address it, instead of kicking the can down the road.” The final session is to be held on November 9. Last year’s speakers included Jean-Claude Biver, Mohammed Abdulmagied Seddiqi, Aldis Hodge, Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani and even @shameonwrist, and this year the line-up…
Against all odds. That was spirit of the conversation I had with Paxton Wong a couple of weeks ago, when we were discussing what he had planned for WatchFest 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t a reason to cancel the event this year, it was the reason it had to go ahead. Not just because Paxton wanted to keep his 2019 promise of “bigger and better” for 2020, but because the Australian watch industry has been terribly affected by local lockdowns, and WatchFest 2020 was the perfect opportunity to rally the community. WatchFest 2020 ran over four days last week and was held predominantly over Zoom to allow as many people to attend as possible, considering the challenges of current travel and the remaining need to socially distance. “Zoom?!” you might scoff. But these were no normal Zoom sessions, with Bell & Ross kicking the event off with a cooking class from Australia’s beloved celebrity chef, of My Kitchen Rules fame, Manu Feildel. Perfect steaks were seared and enjoyed. Other virtual highlights included a session with the Omega Head of Product Management, Gregory Kissling, who offered one of the world’s first presentations of the new Omega Speedmaster ‘Silver Snoopy Award’ 50th…