Insane is the most fitting word for some of these watch auctions...!Things like the paul newman daytona happens quite often, just the price might not go as high as the paul newman, but the verocity of the bids and how fast the price jumps is insane.
Actually quite funny, just like the RM, there seems to be a huge up take in interest for ultra modern watches in the past seven years or so... So some of the prices are somewhat inflated such as how this tudor black bay one of one sold for 650k CHF without premium added!! https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6330405?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=6330405&from=salessummary&lid=1 But regardless of that, the watch auctions are still quite crazy.
The "only watch" auction I was referring to is a charity auction that takes place routinely every two years, where all the major houses donate a one of one unique watch to the auction. Some of the watches are true one off unique master pieces some are just the same watch with slightly different colourations...
It is probably the one of hottest auction in the watch world, I did not know what I was thinking when I went into the auction with 15k CHF and was hoping to get a pretty niche watch that I happen to love(I actually have a regualr verision of the same watch lol). As soon as the auction started I knew I stood no chance... Lot one, a watch I thought no one cared for went from the estimate 70k to 600k in 30 seconds and reached 800k in a minute or so.... My lot went from the estimate 10k to 130k in a minute or so.... Oh and unlike how christie normally do, they did not open the bid at half the low estimate which would be around 6k, they opened it at 50k!! Then I realised that the pandemic definitely had no effect on the wallets of the super rich...
PS: all prices are in CHF, and I just rewatched the Paul newman auction, honestly the atomsphere there doesn't seem to be as insane as onlywatch as price moved quite slowly... Only watch had 52 lots, if someone would like to attempt what paddle 2555 did today they need about 30 million CHF, I surely hope they don't collect sovereigns... Or we would not stand a chance at all...