Antiquorum Auction: 14th and 15th November, Geneva, Switzerland.

One of the great things about living in Geneva is access to great auctions, but with the next auction only four weeks after the last one it is an embarrassment of riches. October’s auction was the usual affair held at the Kempinski Hotel on the edge of Lake Geneva just a few hundred meters from the Antiquorum office.

Of course no-one is immune from the effects of the economic downturn and perhaps the biggest impact on the sales has not been on the prices, though those do seem to have dipped a little, but in the number of items up for auction. Only a couple of years ago there would have been four or six sessions over the two days of the sale, now it is one session per day.

There is one interesting trend though, the range of prices is much greater, and luckily for the non-millionaires amongst us the prices are starting lower not ending higher. There are quite a few items below 5000CHF and lot of watches less than 15K CHF. Of course with the relatively strong Swiss Franc the prices may not always compare favorably with your local auction, but if there is one thing you can rely on from Antiquorum it is that the quality of the items is usually excellent.

If you are thinking of bidding you can’t really beat the thrill of actually being in the room, but of course that’s not an option for everyone so be assured that the online bidding application is excellent. The registration is very easy, but you’ll need a credit card, preferably one that still has some money on it!! In use the application is very responsive even on a small PC and it is has a lot of users.

While there are 363 other lots in the auction, the star of the show is number 364 (pictured above). The Patek Philippe Calibre 89 is the world’s most complicated watch with 33 different complications powered by a movement of four levels. Rather unusually there is no estimated price for lot 364, but as the piece is unique who knows what it will fetch, but I suspect it will be fun to find out!!

My personal favourite is lot 325, a very early Patek Philippe wristwatch, 1910, Officers watch. The precursor to watches like the 5053 and at only 6 – 9K Swiss Francs something of a bargain, but of course now I’ve told you about it…..ah well maybe next time!

To find out more information and view the full catalog go online to the official Antiquorum website.

Tags: Antiquorum, auction, Geneva, luxury, patek philippe, Switzerland, watches

Category: Watch News