A hand-carved white gold frame and 12 complications: a rare watch from the Swiss manufacturer Patek Philippe sold for a record sum at an auction held at Christie’s auction site in Hong Kong
Business
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Business
| Published 03/26/23 15:24
A rare Patek Philippe watch was sold last week for approximately $5.8 million at an auction in Hong Kong, the highest price paid for a watch at a digital auction.
The watch, Patek Philippe’ Sky Moon Tourbillon, which features a hand-crafted blue enamel dial, hand-carved white gold bezel, and 12 complications, sold for HK$45.45 million, according to a statement from Christie’s auction house.
The amount of auctions of Swiss luxury watches such as Rolex and Patek Philippe soared unprecedentedly during the Corona period and in the first quarter of 2022. Sales fell sharply later due to the increase in interest rates and the collapse of cryptocurrencies.
At the same time, due to an increase in demand for watches, when the supply does not change, the second hand market has become particularly popular. It was recently reported that Rolex plans to increase its production capacity.
According to a report published recently by the consulting firm “Boston Consulting Group”, the watches have become so sought after that the market value of the watches has increased by about 20 percent, more than the entire stock market. For comparison, the annual increase of the S&P 500 index is only about 8 percent. Which led many collectors to see the watches as an investment for everything and not just as an accessory.
In some cases, buyers pay for a second watch 2-3 times the original price. For the sake of demonstration, the Daytona models are sold for about $14,800 in Rolex stores in the US, on second-hand websites they sometimes reach a price of about $38,500,000.
