Patek Philippe

Thank you Patekova for this summary of your experience of auction houses.  And just in time for the May auctions!  Thank you for also making it objective by mentioning not only the pros, but also the cons and reminding us to be wary  That being said, to have read catalogues for Phillips, Christie's, and Sotheby's watch auctions for 30+ years might not be entirely accurate, perhaps our memory plays tricks on us, as one of those auction houses didn't even have a watch department 30 years ago. 

Antiquorum certainly was involved in watch auctions 30 years ago, but not all those three.  Phillips, Christie's, and Sotheby's weren't big players in the "watch auction world" until more recently in the past ten years, and even as recently as twenty years ago, at least one of these three (if not more) didn't even have a true watch department (if I recall correctly, one of them had a clock department which was really an extension of the furniture department as one of the furniture experts knew a lot about grandfather clocks).  And, we cannot forget that almost the entire watch auction market was mostly held by Antiquorum for 30 years or so, as they had the majority marketshare until they started losing marketshare starting around 2012.  In the early 2010s, financially, the marketshare of the entire watch auction market was around a couple hundred million (let's say roughly $150 million to $200/million USD) and Antiquorum had a majority of this.  Today, it's grown multiple times (around $550 to $600 million US Dollars in 2021) that and Antiquorum is now a much smaller player! 

Bacs as "truly amazing" is a very kind statement.  The auctioneer is certainly a fine auctioneer.  I would personally bestow "truly amazing" upon someone like a famous Soprano or Tenor, or someone who can move me to tears.  Bacs, while, a talented auctioneer, has never moved me to tears.  Then again, I understand, we may all have different definitions of amazement.  Also, I've never had dinners with the man, so perhaps he's even more impressive at the dinner table than on the podium?  He probably has many hidden talents! 

Auction houses have definitely put watchmaking on the map.  It's a double edged sword though.  While auction houses promote liquidity and have increased the collector appeal of wristwatches.  Auction houses themselves are also no stranger to controversy as they've certainly made many mistakes before and will continue to do so.  Also, as far as "learning" from auction houses...  Let's just say, auction houses may not always "teach" us accurate information.  For instance, a Mark "2.5" Rolex with a Mark 2 case and a Mark 3 dial is not some super rare transitional phase ".5" Rolex, as an auction house may claim.  It's simply a Rolex that had been re-dialed with a later dial.  But some auction houses sometimes want to create a new term and claim it's an ultra-rare watch.  So don't necessarily "learn" everything from the auction houses.  The auction process, which takes the seller three months from consigning the property to receiving a check has also become antiquated (sellers want to get their money sooner, you can sell homes in less time these days) and might one day become obsolete. 

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