Hodinkee
Auctions: Six Observations From Sotheby's September 18 Hong Kong Sale
Ready or not, auction season is back. I don't know about you, but I wasn't expecting it so soon. While the auction cycle is generally synced up for Geneva and New York sales a bit later in the fall, Sotheby's is doing the earliest big sale of the fall with "Important Watches" in Hong Kong on September 18. Personally, I'm still working through the best way to handle auction coverage, as the number of watches is often daunting. That challenge gets worse with Hong Kong sales, which we've generally struggled to stay on top of for a number of reasons. One of which, and this is a complaint for all auction houses, is that there are too many lots in Hong Kong sales. This is driven by both the market location (many of these watches were sourced locally—something I know because I know a decent number of these watches) and the forces behind the auction house and its metrics. Sometimes you have to make sellers happy and take what they want to get at other things (like taking random Hermès bags in a watch sale, as we see this time). It can be overwhelming for a buyer, and for you and me as readers. I want to find the interesting, great deals in the mid- and low-range and share them with you, but I also can't ignore the impressive pieces that might shape the broader market. One important note: for Hong Kong sales, I never get to see the watches in person. It's a lot easier for me to stand in front of a case of watches and pick things up by feel, closely evaluate condition and origi...
