The top of the pre-owned and vintage watch world market is dominated by fine timepieces, High Horology masterpieces and watches with great stories behind them. These watches are mostly collected by very wealthy people and it's hard to ever see one in person as, quite rightly, their owners are very careful where they wear them. What many people don't realise is that anyone can go to an auction preview and see this type of watch up close, try on what they want, and ask questions from experts on the watches.

Since The Watch Collectors' Club is based in London we are lucky to have some of the world's top auction houses based in the city and have a range of other houses including watch specialists. We've held events ahead of auctions so we can take our Members to see these great watches.

How Watch Auctions Work

There are auction houses all over the world holding regular sales of an amazing array of items. Most towns and cities in countries like the UK or the USA have local and regional auction houses, often found selling furniture, art, antiques, and other collectibles. This is because these items are so unique the best way to get a good price is to hold a public auction and invite anyone to bid. Expert dealers often shop at these auctions and benefit from their expertise to buy something they can later sell to their clients in a different location.

Watches are no different, but require a more specialised sale. In small and regional auction houses they will often be put into a Watches and Jewellery auction. In the UK however, some auction houses are large enough to hold auctions only for watches. When these happen the auction houses employ experts who can "build", or curate an attractive catalogue. They deliberate hunt for special, interesting and valuable timepieces to include so that collectors and dealers pay attention to the auction. The very largest auction houses employ watch specialists full time. These include the international names like Sothebys, Christies, Phillips, and Bonhams, and also large UK auctioneers like Lyon and Turnbull and Fellows. Finally there are watch-specialist auctioneers like Watches of Knightsbridge, Antiquorum, and Sterling Vault.

Experts at the auction house analyse the submitted watches, make a quality assessment and condition report, and write the accompanying information. The work they put in is in proportion to the value of the watch, so you might see a lot of detail for something very valuable, and next to no detail for something likely to sell for a small amount of money. These experts can't know everything, so while they try to avoid mistakes, they can miss important details that an educated buyer can take advantage of.

The Preview

All auctions have to publish a catalogue with all of the lot details and the price they expect the watch, known as a "lot" to sell for. They also arrange for a preview day or days where people can come and examine the watches in person to check the details for themselves. Depending on the auction size and value, there may even be special presentation events to highlight the top pieces to potential clients, such as drinks parties, parties for journalists, one on one presentations and dinners for clients etc. All of them are open to the general public at some point though, and that means any watch enthusiast can go along.

At a preview they will have every watch for sale available to examine and try on. You can do simple things like check it's working, compare the watch to pictures of others of the same model to examine the quality, and ask questions about the history and provenance of the timepiece.

Usually, auction catalogues have a wide range of watches as they auctioneer wants to attract a broad range of clients to the business. Very occasionally the auction might have a theme, such as many watches from one brand or many watches of one type, like Chronographs or Military Watches. This means that a preview is a great place to try on watches of a type you've never seen before and might see less of elsewhere. Historic designs, gem set watches, rare pieces are all sold regularly at auction and are a great place to learn more about your taste, what you like, and how things feel on the wrist.

Conclusion

We love the chance to go to auction previews with our Members because it's such a joy to see people discover new watches and try on rare timepieces they've not seen before. If you'd like to come with us make sure you're on our mailing list and check out our Events calendar for auctions taking place in the second half of the year.