Went to an auction today!

I went to a jewelry and watch auction today. I've been to these a couple of times before, and sometimes they have great deals, but with any auction it depends on the crowd that wants to bid.

The best deals today were on jewelry rather than watches. We didn't end up buying anything, but I did take note of the watches that were sold and what they went for.

As usual there were quite a few Rolex watches for sale, and also as usual, all but one were iced out dress models. Some had Rolex dials, but all the models that had ice on the case or bracelet, not one was original work from Rolex. There was one white gold Daytona on a strap, but it was also covered in non-Rolex diamonds.

There were 18 Rolex watches for sale, and 7 of them were sold. IMO they went for too much, but here are some examples:

1/ There were two TT DJ with a fairly worn Jubilee bands that went for $7K each - They both had non-Rolex diamonds on the bezel. Two more of virtually the same watches went for $8K each, and also had non-Rolex diamonds on the bezel.

2/ A Ladies TT DJ with serti dial and non-Rolex diamonds on bezel went for $8K.

3/ A 18k YG DD with stick markers, and non-Rolex diamonds on the bezel went for $18,500.

4/ The big one was an 18K YG DD that had been iced all over. Iced markers, bezel, lugs, and all the middle links on the President bracelet. The dial was factory, but everything else was afternarket. It went for $31,000, which was nuts IMO.

They had a couple of Cartiers there, but none were asked to be put up for auction. They had one Piaget, and 4 Patek Philippe watches. I was quite interested in one of the PP's.

Two that were sold were the "Golden Elipse" models and not my thing at all. There was another there that I didn't recognize, but there was one Calatrava there. I think it dates from the 1980's, and is a model 3923 in rose gold. It was quite small, around 32mm but would be a very nice dress watch for wearing with a tux, for example. Very slim and small and discreet.....in other words the opposite of today's fashion.

I thought if I could pick it up cheap it might make a nice special occasion watch, or I might be able to flip it to make a few bucks. But when it went up for bids, it went from $1K to $6K in a flash, and then they announced it had a book bid of $7K. I was not going to pay that much for it, and it ended up going for $8K, which again is too much IMO!

Here is a picture of a similar model....I love this simple look without crown guards, and with the PP stick markers and sub-seconds dial. Beautiful watch!



So, just like the Lange 1 that slipped through my fingers last time I went to one of these, another watch goes too high for my liking and I let it go. Oh well.

If you ever get a chance to go to these, they are fun even if you don't end up buying anything.

[colemanitis]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to start looking in my area for one of these auctions.

[JJ Irani]

That Patek is a classic....very dressy and as simple as one could ask for from the dial point of view!!

[kingblackbolt]

We should organize a Toronto area auction GTG maybe?

[Alcan]

Originally Posted by kingblackbolt

We should organize a Toronto area auction GTG maybe?

Sounds great! Let me know the details.

Originally Posted by Alcan

Sounds great! Let me know the details.

The company that does the auctions I've been to is at this link:

http://www.federalauctionservice.com/

I stumbled upon first auction while at a hotel for another reason (actually taking some stamps in to be auctioned) and saw a sign about a jewelry auction that afternoon, so we came back and bought a few small items. They have been sending us invites ever since, but they do advertise these in the local papers.

Many jewelry items sell for 20-30% of their appraised value (although the appraised value is very subjective based on the appraiser, of course). For the watches I find that the appraised value is usually the list price, which is not at all realistic unless the appraisal is just for insurance purposes (which the auctioneer always states that's it's purpose and you should not make a decision to purchase based on the appraisal).

For instance the iced out Rolex above that went for $31K was appraised at $105K

Oh, and they usually have a car up for auction as well. Last time is was an Aston-Martin, and this time it was a 2007 Bently Continental GTC Convertible. Top bid at this auction was $100K, but it is auctioned at several places and the top bid from all locations wins.

If nothing else they are fun to go to, and if you know what you are looking for it can be cheap to purchase there compared to retail.