Christie's sale of 'Important Watches' saw some spectacular results on Thursday (December 2), concluding an already amazing year for the Hong Kong market.
The sale drew collectors from around the world, with bidders from five continents competing for the selection of rare and collectible timepieces, and as expected it saw strong prices throughout the day.
The sale raised $13,255,585, with items selling 90% by lot and 92% by price, and it's no surprise that one name dominated the sale: Patek Philippe.
They produced seven of the top ten highest-selling watches in the sale, with first place going to a Platinum Automatic Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeating Wristwatch, which sold for $716,288 (beating its estimate of $517,000 - $711,000).
The second highest sale went to a Platinum Automatic Minute repeating Wristwatch, made in 1997 to commemorate the opening of the new Patek Philippe factory. Only 10 were ever made, and the rarity was reflected in its final selling price of $623,197.
 The Patek Philippe Platinum Automatic watch (left) and the Greubel Forsey Platinum Quadruple Tourbillon (right) |
Third place, however, went to a Greubel Forsey Platinum Quadruple Tourbillon wristwatch which sold for an impressive $483,559, far beyond its high-end estimate of $387,901.
Aurel Bacs, International Head of Christie's Watches Department, said of the sale:
"While Patek Philippe remains a collector favourite, contemporary maker Greubel Forsey has clearly established itself as an elite collector's watch, with two rare timepieces appearing in the top ten results."
The auction also saw fierce competition for enamel clocks and antique pocket watches, with some reaching prices of up to eight times their pre-sale estimates.
As Christie's prepare for their final timepiece sale of the year in New York on December 14, collectors can look back on 2010 as an amazing year for the watch market which has seen records broken and values skyrocket.
It seems collectors from the BRIC nations may only just have begun to flex their muscles on the collectibles market, and if the sales seen in Hong Kong this year are anything to go by it should be another amazing year for investors in 2011.
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