All 19 watches in Sotheby’s first weekly online auction sold at or above their estimates in a sign that demand for vintage and contemporary classic watches is as strong as ever.
The sale was entirely dedicated to Rolex and Audemars Piguet models and took place without a physical sale room. Aside from a handful of phone bidders into its Hong Kong team, the majority of the auction took place online.
Rolex outperformed AP on a crude measure of how each watch performed against pre-sale estimates.
Ten out of 14 Rolex watches on the block exceeded their top estimates while only one out of five Audemars Piguet pieces managed that result.
The top price paid was HKD 2,375,000 ( around £250,000) for a stainless steel Rolex Paul Newman Daytona, ref.6241, from around 1968.
Another Daytona, made for Dubai ruler Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in around 1975, and featuring the UAE’s Quraysh Hawk on its dial, went for HKD 2,000,000 (around £210,000).
The 19 watches sold for a total of HKD 6.4 million (around £670,000).
What does this say about the article you ran last week with the WatchBox’s chief revenue officer Mike Manjos regarding Daytona’s being “soft” ?
To ask a watch dealer if it’s a good time is like asking a prostitute if it’s a good time to have sex.
He was not, at all, referring to vintage Daytona’s.