Harry Winston Opus 3 (with Vianney Halter)
Auction records exist to be broken but even when no records are set, that does not mean there is no news. Take the recently concluded Christie’s Important Watches auction in Hong Kong, where no records were set (US$17,114,2347 achieved, total, with 484 of 514 lots sold) but we find it notable for the unprecedented sale of a complete set of Harry Winston Opus watches (1 thru 7).
As far as we know, this is the first time all the Opus pieces have come up in a group like this and were all sold, reinforcing the perceived value of this series. In total, the seven watches achieved US$1.17 million, exceeding the pre-sale estimate. By way of contrast, the top lot of this auction – Patek Philippe Ref. 5074 – achieved an impressive US$471,744 all by itself but that result was well within the estimate range, which topped out at US$624,000.
Frederic Watrelot, Head of Christie’s Asia Watch Department, had this to say about the many Patek Philippe watches on offer: “Blue-chip brand Patek Philippe continues to appeal to connoisseurs, with both the rare pink gold black dial ref. 5074 as well as the platinum and sapphire-set ref. 5971 achieving top lot status.”
Harry Winston Opus 5 (Felix Baumgartner)
Patek Philippe Ref. 5074
