The rise of online auctions, as a result of coronavirus, has spurred interest among the region’s watch collectors with auction house Christie’s reporting that the number of registrants from the Middle East has tripled over the past six months.
This season (from March to June), a collector in Dubai created a record for the most expensive watch sold at an auction in the Middle East, and for any watch sold online at Christie’s, with a $1.59 million bid for a Patek Philippe (pictured above) timepiece. “The region has unquestionably become an essential hub in the watch market,” a press statement by Christie’s indicated.
“Anyone who tells you that it’s hard to sell luxury goods online should look at our Watches Online: The Dubai Edit sale in March this year. With a total result in excess of $14m, it was the biggest auction ever in terms of value in the region,” Remy Julia, head of Dubai Watches department told Arabian Business.
“The Dubai watch team reached out to many new potential clients and spent time with them on video calls to explain market dynamics, trends, and the hot watches to look out for. All these efforts translated into new registrants and buyers. It is interesting to note that approximately 25 percent of new buyers returned to the following sales,” he continued.
When the pandemic struck last year, Christie’s was quick to move its sales online, holding 49 online sales in 2020 in its luxury group segment, compared to 24 online sales in 2019. It has continued with digital sales this year too and 53 percent of those who bid in the live auctions also bid online.
“The lockdown allowed a lot of our collectors to spend more time on their hobbies and it was easier for us to reach out to existing and new clients. We were able to assess collections thoroughly and advise them on the future direction of their collection by highlighting watches that could be sold, held, or added to the collection,” said Julia.
This blend of online and live auctions is paying off with record sales for the auction house. Christie’s watch sales for the first half of 2021 in Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong and New York totalled $93.7m, a record performance which exceeded Christie’s watch figures for 2020 and 2019.
Remy Julia, chief watch specialist at Christie’s Dubai.
Digital platforms are also opening up watch auctions for new and younger enthusiasts. Close to 39 percent of buyers at the watch sales were new to Christie’s: 40 percent of those are under 40, and 41 percent are based in APAC, followed by 31 percent in EMEA and 28 percent in Americas.
“I believe that a well-curated sale will always attract new buyers. Now that people have stopped travelling to live auctions as they used to in the past, an online auction that offers some rare and collectible watches is still an exciting prospect for a collector, even if this person is on another continent. Our team of specialists have dealt with people from across the globe, sending them detailed condition reports and macro images and videos when requested,” explained Julia.
“Besides this, our marketing team has worked constantly on updating our website and added features like virtual tours of the gallery. Also Instagram has been a great tool in alerting watch enthusiasts and collectors about our new sales and offerings,” he continued.
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