“The spring sales again highlighted, were it ever necessary, that Christie’s is the uncontested leader in watch auctions,” observed Alfredo Paramico, a renowned collector, particularly of Patek Philippe, and manager of Precious Time, an investment fund dedicated to watches. “Its success derives first and foremost from Christie’s capacity to propose a first-class catalogue of exclusive timepieces whose originality, provenance and quality are undisputed.” By way of example, he cites the sale in Hong Kong on May 30th. “I have to say I was bowled over by the catalogue. Never had I seen such a complete offering, especially in the contemporary timepieces sector. It comes as no surprise that this was the most valuable sale for watches in Asia, with a result of EUR 17.2 million.”
While confirming Christie’s dominance, Alfredo Paramico notes the return of Antiquorum centre-stage. “The company’s management have been intelligent enough not to challenge Christie’s on its own ground. Instead they are focusing on a different offering, which I for one appreciate. In fact at the last Antiquorum sale in May, our Precious Time fund acquired two watches: a white gold Patek Philippe Ref. 3445 and a Rolex Ref. 1587 Jump-Hour, Prince Railway. The same cannot be said of Sotheby’s which is trying, in my opinion in vain, to keep pace with Christie’s. Hence a lack of confidence as to the proposed pieces. The June 14th sale of two major collections will be the litmus test. If it fails to deliver positive results, I think the company should abandon its Geneva sales for the good of a market which is currently enjoying excellent momentum.”