Christie's celebrates 55 years of watch sale with some historic pieces

Christie's celebrates 55 years of watch sale with some historic pieces

October 16, 2015: Christie’s is celebrating 55 years of stand-alone watch sales by auctioning some historic pieces in autumn 2015. The season starts in Dubai, where Christie’s supports the first ever “Dubai Watch Week” and finishes in New York, where a thematic auction OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50: From A Spacewalk To Today, features 50 lots in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Gemini IV spacewalk by Edward White in 1965, when he wore an OMEGA Speedmaster on his wrist.

Christie’s is leading the watch auction market for the past eight consecutive years. During this period Christie’s has sold 42 watches over $1 million and totaled over $800 million in sales. 

Christie’s Dubai: Organized by Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons, the region’s largest luxury watch retailer and in association with the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), and supported by Christie’s, Dubai Watch Week will offer a journey of discovery into the world of fine Swiss watch making. The Christie’s Important Watches auction on October 21 will be offering 160 lots of which vintage watches counts for 30 per cent, a significant increase over previous offerings in Christie’s Dubai watch auctions reflecting the continuing demand for heritage timepieces by collectors throughout the region. 
 
Christie’s Shanghai: Shanghai is Christie’s most recently added sale center in Asia to offer watch sales. 110 watches – with 47 lots sold with No Reserve – will be offered on October 24 in the upcoming sale of “The Elements of Style”, a new concept of elegant lifestyle. An exciting array of world renowned watch brands will be offered to a new and younger collector audience. Included are watches by Blancpain, Jaeger Lecoultre, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Chopard, Bulgari, Rolex, IWC and Audemars Piguet to name a few.

Christie’s Geneva: Christie’s Geneva is offering on November 9 the most prized and important Patek Philippe references ever made: the Patek Philippe reference 2497 perpetual calendar in yellow gold with a military-style black dial featuring luminous Arabic numerals and luminous “alpha” hands in absolutely unrestored and original condition. The watch was owned by Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. The watch features the Emperor’s crest ornately engraved on the case back and notes on the extract from the archives of Patek Philippe. 

Christie’s Hong Kong: Christie’s Hong Kong has announced an auction on November 30, celebrating the 260th anniversary of Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest watch manufacturer in continuous operation since its founding in 1755. Christie’s assembled a special section of 60 timepieces to showcase the essence of centuries of uninterrupted watchmaking. From the dazzling diamond-set Lord Kalla wristwatch, to a superb tourbillon pocket watch, a world-time wristwatch with enamel dial, and a group of rare and possibly unique pendant watches adorned with exquisitely crafted dials inlaid with mother of pearl or pietradura of semi-precious stones, the collection highlights Vacheron Constantin’s exceptional combinations of artistic and mechanical prowess. The entire Important Watches sale will offer 500 watches.
 
Christie’s New York: During ‘OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50: From A Spacewalk To Today’, on December 15, 50 lots will be auctioned. Upon its introduction in 1957, the Omega Speedmaster defined a new watch category: the sports chronograph. After rigorous testing, NASA designated the Speedmaster as flight-qualified for use by astronauts and thanks to its important role in space missions the Speedmaster became one of the most recognizable and desirable watches in the world. OMEGA SPEEDMASTER 50 celebrates the diversity of the Speedmaster and includes the earliest references from the 1950s and 1960s, more radical design approaches from the 1970s and 1980s, prototype “ALASKA Project” watches, limited editions celebrating space missions and the Olympic Games, and, appropriately, watches that have flown and been used in space. 
 
The next day, on December 16, Christie’s New York Important Watches auction will offer “The Pearl of Bahrain” – an extraordinary Patek Philippe reference 2573 in rose gold with natural seed pearl hour markers on a pink starburst dial. The watch is fresh to market and was, according to the consignor, a gift from Emir Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa I of Bahrain. According to the consignor, the pearls are natural seed pearls harvested from off the coast of Bahrain.