The New York Auctions — One Week Later
I like New York in June, How About You?
Last week saw the auction world swing back to New York City with collectors and enthusiasts descending on Midtown Manhattan for a series of auctions which, as auctions are wont to do, provided a mix of excitement, disappointment, and more than enough fodder for those of us who make our livings writing about watches to spill at least a few words.
Through the haze (an apt metaphor, considering the conditions in New York last week) of questionable product, shifting interests, and a fundamental reckoning with the place of auctions in the watch world, it is becoming clear that we sit at somewhat of an inflection point in the collecting space. So, in the grand tradition of those who came before, I am here to offer up some thoughts on a week that was filled with interesting watches — and even more interesting results.
Roger Smith: Once the Learner, Now the Master
Before we get into anything else, it is worth talking about Roger Smith. For those who don’t know, Roger Smith is one of the preeminent independent watchmakers of our time. Apprenticed to George Daniels (inventor of the Co-Axial escapement, which was in turn popularized by Omega) in the ‘90s, Smith quickly gained a following of his own and has, for the last twenty years, been producing some of the most interesting and desirable wristwatches on the market.
Smith produces his watches according to the Daniels System, where a watch is made from start to finish, including all finishing and technical work, by a single watchmaker. He has also continued to expand on the technical innovations of Daniels, primarily by pushing forward the development of the Co-Axial escapement. All of this work was made possible, in large part, by the absolutely stunning pocket watch sold at Phillips Auction House last weekend.
I could spend a lot more time expanding on the history of this particular watch but given that my colleague Jack Forster has already done so, I will let those of you who want to dive in further read his article on the watch here. What I will tell you is that this immensely important and impressive pocket watch sold for $4.9 million, a new record for any British-made watch, surpassing George Daniel’s Space Traveller I — which sold at Sotheby’s in 2019 for $4.6 million).
Roger Smith himself was present for the sale, sitting in the front row next to the eventual underbidder and watching the excitement as large escalating bids for what has been described as possibly the single most important watch of the latter part of the 20th century publicly reinforced Smith’s status as one of the true masters of modern independent watchmaking and as a worthy successor to George Daniels’ legacy and a true steward of British watchmaking.
After a series of back-and-forth bidding, the watch eventually sold to a buyer on the phone with Phillips’ Head of Watches, Americas, Paul Boutros, and there was an undeniable sense of elation and relief when Aurel Bacs finally dropped the gavel and locked Roger Smith’s Pocket Watch No. 2 into the history books.
A Shift in Focus
The last decade of watch collecting has been, in many ways, defined by the homogenization of taste. Nautiluses (Nautili?), Daytonas, and Royal Oaks have taken over our Instagram feeds and, as vintage Rolex and modern hype watches have overwhelmed the conversation, so have they taken over the headlines of auction results.
Now, as we have started to see prices in these previously white-hot markets start to show just a little bit of cooling, the world is opening up. Seemingly gone are the days when a green-dialed 5711/1A-014 or a Rainbow Daytona would clear half a million dollars at auction without breaking a sweat.
Now, that’s not at all to say that these watches don’t still command an insane value on the secondary or auction market, after all, the 5711/1A-014 still sold for $381,000, a staggering figure when compared to its original retail price of $34,893. But there now seems to be room for true surprises, and the Patek Philippe Ref. 3424, which sold at Sotheby’s, provides an excellent example of this.
The 3424, which was admittedly a particularly intriguing asymmetrical time only Patek Philippe from the 1960s, was offered with a rather conservative estimate of $20,000 – $30,000. The watch shocked the room and sold for just over ten times the low estimate — $203,200 with buyers’ premium included.
An interesting counterpoint to the performance of the 3424 was the performance of a stellar example of a pink-on-pink Patek Philippe 1518, which sold in the same auction. Though it didn’t command anything close to the $10 million that its sibling did two years earlier, a result just shy of $4 million dollars reinforces a continuing interest in mid-century Patek, especially as the market for modern equivalents seems to falter slightly, with certain models of current production Patek selling for below retail and iconic pieces from the last three decades letting down the side. I can only offer that it is, to me, a strange world in which a Patek 5070J fails to break $50,000 or a no-chin 5270G fails to sell, as happened at Christie’s last week.
I can think of no better metaphor for this general trend against hype than the performance of two sets of plastic Journes. Now, unlike when we talk about plastic Speedys, I’m not talking about watches, but rather a set of plastic figurines of the founder of the eponymous brand F.P. Journe produced in collaboration with the fashion brand Bait through their toymaker Kokies.
Less than a year after a set of these maquettes sold for CHF 25,200 at Christie’s last fall, two sets have come up for auction yet again, realizing prices of $1512 and $6350 and Christie’s and Sotheby’s, respectively. Obviously, this is not a direct analog for the performance of hype watches, but I think it does offer an interesting glimpse into the evolving relationship watch enthusiasts have with collective obsession.
On a wildly different note, Pocket Watches also had a hell of a week. In fact, for the first time in recent memory, across the three major auctions held in New York last week, not a single pocket watch offered failed to sell — staggering considering that a mere month ago in Geneva there wasn’t even enough interest to raise an original Breguet repeating watch above its reserve.
Of particular note was the Audemars Piguet Pocket watch sold on the second day of the Phillips sale, which outperformed its high-end estimate of $120,000 and sold for over $600,000 dollars, a real coup for pocket watch enthusiasts everywhere.
Paul Newman’s Daytonas Do as Paul Newman’s Daytonas Do
None of this is to say that hype is entirely dead — the performance of not one but two Rolex Daytonas owned by acting and racing icon Paul Newman proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
When a pair of Paul Newman’s own Daytonas come up for sale, there’s really no telling what might happen. Few people have ever come to be so closely associated with a specific model of watch as Newman has with the Daytona.
Offered as part of a broader sale of items and collectibles from the estate of the late Newman and his wife, stage and screen legend Joanne Woodward, these two Daytonas were never expected to match the performance of Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Daytona, which sold for $17.8 million dollars in October of 2017 — then a record for any watch. After all, these are not Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Daytona, these are just Paul Newman’s Daytonas.
And, as an aside, if you’re wondering how many times, and in how many orders, I can use the words “Paul,” “Newman(‘s),” and “Daytona,” you’re not alone.
That said, these two Daytona, one a Zenith El Primero powered Daytona from the ‘90s presented to Newman at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona race to celebrate his being names Rolex Motorsports Man of the Year, the other a later six-digit white gold Daytona given to Newman by his wife and inscribed “Drive very slowly, Joanne,” both sold for over a million dollars and demonstrated just how important provenance can be.
Obviously, these prices should not give you any ideas about the prospective value of your own Daytonas. After all, you aren’t Cool Hand Luke, I don’t care how many eggs you can eat.
One Last Note
I want to take one quick moment to turn our attention to charity watches. One of my favorite shifts in the watch industry over the last ten or fifteen years has been the renewed focus on philanthropy and charity.
Obviously, events like Only Watch (founded in 2005) get a lot of coverage, and we will absolutely be a part of that as we approach the fall and start to see this year’s pieces (watch this space), but many brands have started weaving charitable endeavors through a much larger portion of their businesses.
Zenith is one of these brands, and it was in this line of thinking that Zenith offered a Piece Unique Chronomaster at Phillips last weekend. The thematically colored watch, which was offered to support the charitable efforts of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Organization, sold for over $30,000, all of which (including commission and buyer’s premium) was donated to the Organization in furtherance of its efforts.
I love seeing brands take advantage of their collector’s desire for the new and interesting to support valuable causes, especially when they actually turn out compelling watches to do so. I mean, seriously, Zenith does pink dials really well.