Tourbillons Headline $2.1 Million Auction
By William George Shuster, Senior Editor -- JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone, 8/1/2003
Tourbillon watches headlined Antiquorum's live and online auction of pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks, held in May in New York City. In all, 281 clients from around the world registered for online bidding, and more than 5,000 collectors logged onto Antiquorum's Web site (www.antiquorum.com) to follow the live-auction broadcast.
The two-day event rang up $2,134,865 in sales. One-third came from online transactions, Antiquorum New York's best online result to date.
The top seller was an extremely rare limited-edition pink 18k A. Lange & Söhne tourbillon wristwatch from the 1990s, purchased by an online bidder for $151,000, 50% more than expected. It has a one-minute visible tourbillon regulator and 36-hour power reserve indicator.
An elegant platinum Vacheron Constantin "Les Complications Tourbillon" from the 1990s sold for $96,000. The watch features a one-minute visible tourbillon regulator and 42-hour power reserve. A rare self-winding yellow 18k Cartier Pasha Tourbillon Automatique Perpétuelle from the 1990s, with one-minute tourbillon regulator, perpetual calendar, and moon phases, sold for $45,000.
Other top sellers included a pink 18k Patek Philippe watch, circa 2000, with coaxial round button split-seconds chronograph, registers, perpetual calendar, and moon phases. It sold for $96,000. A stainless-steel Rolex Oyster Chronographe, Antimagnetic—the so-called "Jean-Claude Killy" watch from the 1950s—with round button chronograph, registers, and triple-date calendar, sold for $61,900.
