Christie’s New York watches sale nets $7.3 million
NEW YORK, December 20, 2009 – The Fall sales season of Important Watches ended on a record-breaking note on December 15, as Christie’s New York presented its largest sale of fine and rare timepieces to date, realizing $7.35 million in total, with sell-through rates of 92 percent by lot and 94 percent by value.
This brings the global sales total for Watches at Christie’s to some $67.2 million for 2009, and re-affirms Christie’s market leadership in the category.
Aurel Bacs, International Co-Head for Watches at Christie’s, said: “These results demonstrate Christie’s dominance in the global market for fine and rare timepieces.
“Despite the continued volatility in the financial markets during 2009, all of Christie’s sales in this category performed above expectations, with sell-through rates consistently above the 90 percent mark.”
Tim Bourne, International Co-Head for Watches at Christie’s, added, “2009 was notable for exponential growth in buyer participation from Asian countries, led by mainland China and Hong Kong.
“At the same time, both established and new collectors from private, trade, and institutional sectors in Europe and the U.S. were active in the market, generating many of the top prices and new auction records that Christie’s has achieved throughout the spring and fall seasons.”
Aided by the Christie’s LIVE, the company’s global online bidding platform, bidders
from around the world participated in all eight sales of Important Watches held this year, with an average of 200 online bidders registering for each sale.
At the December 15 sale of Important Watches in New York, nearly 800 registered bidders from 31 countries competed for items throughout the daylong sale, submitting bids on the phone, online, in the salesroom, and by absentee bid.
