Thomas Perazzi, Head of Watches in Asia
It was February 2020 at the brand new Tokyo office located in the Roppongi area, where an unexpected surprise arrived A gentleman booked an appointment with a non specified Rolex to offer to us. Once arrived, from a handkerchief a Rolex reference 6262 in stainless steel with Paul Newman dial was under my loupe. The owner bought the watch in the early 1970s during a business trip in Hong Kong and kept it with him for over 45 years.Thanks to my Japanese colleagues a communication line was established and I was able to ask few question.
Me: “Why did you choose Rolex?
Answer: “ I needed a robust watch and I thought that Rolex was the best one.
Me: “Why did you choose a Daytona model?”
Answer: “I choose the Daytona because it had an attractive dial and it was cheap”
It was difficult for me to hide my shock.
Me: “Why are you considering selling it?”
Answer: “I’m an old man now and I prefer to wear self-winding watches. I saw your AD in the newspapers and I was wondering how much it worth today”
When the estimate was provided, the gentleman almost fallen from his chair.
“ Really??? Are you sure about the value??? It was so cheap back then, how is it possible that it worth so much? He asked.
Me: “ Yes, we are absolutely positive Sir”
After few minutes of consideration, the Japanese gentleman decided to consign it with us to our Spring season. The watch has been sold in Hong Kong auction X, exceeding the high estimate, and the proceeds were donated to the owner’s heirs.
Arthur Touchot, Head of Digital Strategy and Specialist
Finding watches for upcoming auctions is one of, if not the, most important role that a Specialist has. One of my colleagues, Tiffany To, shared in another article how her client discovered a vintage Rolex Submariner Reference 6200 in an Egyptian souk. It’s a beautiful story (which you can read here) and the kind that we hear of less and less today but which many young Specialists hope to one-day experience for themselves.
The strategies used to find these watches has changed quite dramatically in recent years, even before COVID-19 made it difficult for us to “hunt down” watches around the world. This is undoubtedly due to the rise of social media making the visibility of rare watches explode. Today I want to share the story of a consignment that simply would not have happened if it hadn’t been for social media (and a late night decision to grab drinks in a Parisian bar).
It all began just a few days into 2019. I had spent a couple of weeks visiting family in France during the holidays and, having spent most of it eating and drinking with the same people, I felt the need to go eat and drink with others – remember when we could do that? So I reached for my phone and contacted a group of local watch collectors in Paris.
A few hours later, I found myself in a bar just a few metro stops down from where I was staying. It was a busy night, with most tables already taken, but I soon found myself sitting down with fellow watch enthusiasts looking at watches, and realizing how much I had missed that during the short break.
I spent most of the evening speaking to one collector about the then very new Rolex GMT-Master which he proudly displayed on his wrist, and other popular sports watches, including the Royal Oak and the Nautilus - always an entertaining topic to dive into.
But a few days later, another young collector with whom I had had a short but wonderful conversation about affordable vintage wristwatches got in touch to share images of two unique Patek Philippe Ref. 5065 models, supposedly part of a custom-set of four pieces made for a client who never picked them up.
A member of his family had purchased two, one featuring a striking blue dial and a second featuring a “red” dial (but more on that later). The watches were not for sale, but I was grateful to see images of these watches, which were previously unknown to me and the market.
We kept in touch over the months, and struck up a friendship around our love of watches, and while the Aquanauts remained a part of the conversation, they were never its focus. However, almost a year later, he finally initiated that conversation, and while I will never know the reasons for its timing, I attribute the immediate trust he showed in PHILLIPS and our estimates to the fact that our conversations had shifted from the traditional client and advisor relationship to a developing friendship.
It was extremely exciting to have discovered this most probably unique pair of reference 5065 models, and even crazier to think I was learning about these watches because I had contacted a group of collectors over Instagram and I was absolutely thrilled to receive them in our Geneva office, with up-to-date Extracts which revealed that the « red » Ref. 5065 was in fact a “prune” Ref. 5065 according to Patek Philippe’s official colour coding system.
A final surprise to a most surprising consignment.
Tiffany To, Specialist
One of my most memorable consignment moments date back to 2019. It was August - a hot and humid summer’s day. Most of the locals and expatriates had left for the summer and one could feel the eerie emptiness of the city during this time of the year. I sat alone in the office with another colleague, starting to catalog and take stock of what was coming in the next season. Suddenly, the door bell rang and a distinguished gentleman came in, slightly flustered. As we exchanged pleasantries, he mentioned that he had a watch from his father, and would like to sell it for personal reasons. Such is the pleasure and fun of working at auction – we never know what will walk through the door at any given day. At this moment, my interest was piqued, but I had no expectations as one never knows what will appear. Gradually, he unfolded a watch that he had wrapped in paper film. At once, I noticed the angled lugs and symmetrical dial configuration. The watch was undoubtedly a reference 3448 – Patek Philippe’s very first serially produced automatic perpetual calendar model – and even had a beautiful, fluid Patek Philippe bracelet.
While the watch was beautiful, I could sense that the gentleman had more to say. I proceeded to ask him how this watch came to his hands. This fine timepiece had belonged to the gentleman’s father, one of the most successful Venezuelan civil engineers of his time. The family eventually moved to Switzerland and settled in the Montreux, overlooking Lake Geneva. A lover of fine watches and cars – befitting his craft – he had accumulated many beautiful objects throughout his life. As expected from a man of such rigour, he took utmost care of this watch - which was offered to him personally by Mr. Philippe Stern, according to his son - and kept it in excellent shape. In fact, during the last service at Patek Philippe in 2000, in order to maintain the freshness and stunning look of the watch, he demanded a new dial and bracelet to be fitted onto the piece.
Usually, service parts de-value a watch. However, the provenance, story and history of this reference 3448 was so charming that we immediately wanted to take it for the sale, as the watch represented more than just an object that indicated the time. It was a story of multiple generations, a fruit of hard work, as well as achievement.
After many months of negotiation, we eventually sold the watch in June 2020 for 125,000 CHF, all-in. Even in the middle of the COVID pandemic, collectors still recognized authenticity of the watch and the romance of collecting. Had we wished the watch retained its original bracelet and dial? Of course. However, its story made up for the parts it lacked, and the fact that everything was serviced by Patek Philippe also gave the timepiece undoubted credibility. In addition, the funds made a difference to the gentleman’s life. I still remember his parting words very clearly - “I will buy this timepiece back one day, when I can.”
Alex Ghotbi, Head of Watches, Continental Europe and the Middle East
In the late 1990s I purchased a book called “The World of Vacheron Constantin” by Carole Lambelet and Lorette Cohen. At the end of the book there were pages of black and white archival photos of Vacheron Constantin’s watches. However one watch, on page 404, particularly caught my eye, it had no description other than a photo number but from the photo you could see that it was a tonneau wristwatch with winding crown at noon, featuring a minute repeater, a retrograde date and a day indicator at 6 o’clock.
I researched the watch high and low to no avail, even the Heritage department at Vacheron Constantin had not seen the watch other than on the black and white photo in their archives and had no idea on its whereabouts!
Fast forward to 2010-2011, at the time I am the moderator of an online discussion forum dedicated to Vacheron Constantin: The Hour Lounge. One morning I go online to see what the night’s conversations were about and I see a post done early in the morning with a title “who can tell me more about this watch that belonged to my uncle”. 99% of posts with similar titles were about fake watches so without much hope I open the post and lo and behold there are color photos of that elusive watch from the book that had been haunting me for over a decade!! The participants went wild, one of if not THE most important vintage Vacheron Constantin had been discovered. Overwhelmed by such a discovery the original poster disappeared and never came back to the forum to everyone’s dismay…there were so many questions that were begging for an answer.
In 2016 when I joined Phillips I decided to reach out to the owner of the watch and see if he would be interested in consigning it, the problem was I remembered his first name and vaguely his last. The forum had been closed down and I had no idea how to reach him. When emails are exchanged the iPhone keeps the email in memory so I set out to check the 6000+ emails not linked to contacts that were on my iPhone to see if a name stood out! Close to a month later I found that email address, prepared what I considered a very enticing email and hit the send button with high hopes that I would hear back rapidly….and nothing happened…for close to a year!
In 2017 I receive a message via Linkedin, it was the owner of the Vacheron Constantin! The email address I had was one he no longer used and he had gone back to it one last time to close it down when he saw my message. He signed off with a “let’s discuss” that rang like poetry to my ears.
We flew down to Spain with Aurel Bacs where the owner resided, he had inherited the watch from his grand uncle who had passed away without children and the watch had been sleeping in a safe since the 1940s. I have to admit that seeing and holding this watch close to 20 years after first having seen a black and white photo was an epiphanous moment for me, I felt like Indiana Jones holding the Grail in my hand. I was excited, overwhelmed, humbled and even a bit emotional. I had travelled a long way in time to get to this watch.
The watch unfortunately had been damaged with humidity and the movement was no longer functioning, so it was sent to Vacheron Constantin’s Heritage department to be delicately and painstakingly brought back to its original glory.
That is how in 2019, the Vacheron Constantin “Don Pancho”, one of the early 20th centuries most important and relevant wristwatches, came to the auction market. It sold for CHF 740,000 making it the most expensive vintage Vacheron Constantin wristwatch to be sold at auction.
Virginie Liatard-Roessli, Specialist
It all started with a phone call from a young man explaining that he wanted to sell his grandfather's watch. He had previously gone to a gold buyer who had offered him CHF 3,000 for the watch. Following a friend’s recommendation he wanted to know if he would be offered a better deal at auction. After receiving some information about the watch, we decided to meet the next day.
Over a cup of coffee, after the introductions were done, he handed me a small pouch. At first glance, I recognized the perfect curves of a very beautiful Patek Philippe chronograph. After a closer look, my eyes were delighted to see a pulsometer scale on the dial. The explanation of this unusual feature came naturally: my client's grandfather had arrived in Switzerland for medical reasons and had met his wife while she was working at the hospital where he was being treated. This watch must therefore have been used by his grandmother to check her husband's vital signs. What a great story! Moreover, the watch had been worn in a very respectful manner and the general condition of the case and dial was excellent. A beautiful discovery I made that day, only a few weeks after my client had discovered this sleeping beauty in his grandmother's safe after decades of oblivion.
I suggested an estimate more than 10 times higher than the gold buyer’s offer. My client almost choked! After repeating my offer and making sure it wasn't a joke he told me that, at this level, he should speak to his family as no one was expecting the watch to be worth that much.
A few days later, he called me to tell me that his father did not believe him, and he wanted to accept the CHF 3’000 offer rather than the wacky idea of going at auction. We had to find a way to allow this superb watch to join the collection of a watch aficionado and be cherished again as it deserved to be. My client asked me if I would accept to write a letter to his father. So I did. I explained the rarity and value of the watch and the interest it would generate at auction.
It seems my conviction and my words erased the father’s doubts. It was with a lot of emotion that I called my client after the sale to tell him that his grandfather’s watch had sold for 20 times the price he was offered in the first place!