There are many ways to build up a vintage watch collection (first know what kind of collector you are).

I know one very large US based collector who has bought his watches only through dealers. Another big collector only buys through his network of friends who are also collectors. Other collectors buy at pawnshops, flea markets. For some reason I have almost exclusively used auction houses. Admittedly this is slowly shifting because of Instagram (a trend I wrote about here). 

Now for every collector it is different.

What is good for one collector might not be the right thing for another. The best dealers in the world are far better than some auction houses, but it is equally true that the best auction house for sure can be a more pleasant experience than buying from some dealers or collectors. At the end of the day: Find someone who you trust, who has the standards, ethics, quality and transparency that you want.

Buy the seller is the golden rule in watch collecting. That is often more important than buying the watch.

I have bought watches from collectors, dealers, and auction houses. So I have experienced all the different avenues. But for the moment I can say with confidence that my still preferred route is buying vintage watches at auction.

In this post I will present 5 main advantages of buying through auction houses. In the next series I will lay out 7 winning strategies to succeed at buying through auctions:

Here are 5 advantages of buying through auction houses:

• Buyers confidence: buying a watch at auction can rightly (or wrongly at times) give you a level of confidence that you don’t get buying elsewhere. What I like about buying at auction is the following: From the time you see a watch in the catalogue or being promoted on Instagram, to when you see it in person right before the auction- you can do your research. Often this involves months of time to prepare. Talking to experts at the auction house, talking to other collectors, involving also dealers – soon you have 4-5 good sources that you have consulted. What is also a big advantage is that the world blogs and collectors knowledge can often help you. In many instances the collecting public will have scrutinized every single watch lot that will appear in an auction catalogue online or through instagram! Not sure a dial is correct on a watch or its a reprint or re-dial? The experts will have chimed if there is an obvious mistake. How many times have auction houses pulled a watch due to well-known dealers or collectors questioning a watch.  This gives you a sense of security that you don’t get when dealing directly with a dealer if your interested in a watch but know little about it. Try buying a watch at a watch fair and telling the seller you want a few months to think about it and do your homework. It will long be sold if the watch is nice. Or trying buying a watch from a dealer and then go asking a few other dealers what they think of it (not a good idea) and tell the dealer you will get back to him. They won’t like that. The point is buying at auction often gives you enough time to think about it and do your homework.

• Public scrutiny: The auction houses are under the public eye and the world. They are often regulated by governments in terms of transparency and rules. Auction houses therefore cannot cut corners or knowingly act fraudulent (aware that there are always exceptions). Now of course many auction houses don’t always offer lots that they should. And for sure they don’t always disclose all that they should. But the public and collectors know which auction houses can deliver the goods in terms of quality and which cannot. For example at Phillips before any watch is accepted it goes through their entire advisory board before it gets accepted at auction. There is a strong due diligence at the top auction houses and therefore much of the homework in a sense has been already done for the collector. If a lot is questionable – most respectable auction houses will remove the lot before the auction to avoid any reputational damage.

• Buying at auction lets the market determine a fair price: This is perhaps the most important reason why I like buying at auction. I am a strong believer of efficient markets. In the long run I think the auction market is extremely efficient for the most part. The auction market with internet bidding and global presence represents the world wide market today. It is thus a good barometer which to judge market prices. Not sure about a watch? Well don’t put in an opening bid and rather let the market decide what the watch is worth before you take part (admittedly this strategy did not always work in my favour but I will save that for another post). But eight times out of ten – this has helped me before buying a watch – especially in my early days of watch collecting. If a watch I was after was selling far above even the high estimate – it gave me confidence that the watch had something that must be good. Remember my golden rule in collecting in general: You cannot overpay enough for trophy assets. Buy the best and buy with confidence. Some collectors don’t agree with me here. They say auction houses put on themed sales that are overhyped and cause results to be ‘inflated’ and don’t represent the fair market. That can sometimes be true and I don’t say it does not happen. But on a whole and over the long run – auction results over time reflect the market. I strongly believe this.

• Buying at auction allows your watch to enter the data books for good: Another EXTREMELY important reason why I like buying at auction. I like numbers. I like data. When I buy a watch or am studying to buy a watch I like to find out the price history. What was its price 10 years ago? Last year? What did similar watches in poorer or better condition sell for? When you buy a watch at auction you contribute to that data. If you pay a world record price for a watch – the whole world knows about it. They don’t know the buyer but they know that reference X of a watch fetched a world record. If two watches are offered to me at the same time of similar quality. One was at auction (hopefully not several times though) and achieved a world record price and the other was just as good of a watch but remained auction free and its previous price history is unknown – I will go for the watch that was auctioned. It gives me more confidence. It is a data set that I can fall back on. Data gives me confidence.

• Auction houses have history, financial and staying power: I admit this is not the most important reason to buy at auction but it is worth mentioning. Auction houses for the most part tend have a long history and tradition. These are old age institutions that have built up a certain work ethic, codes of conduct and transparency. Through decades they also have built up a good network with watch brands. Want to have Patek speed up your service of your perpetual calendar from the 1950s? There is a good chance that some of the auction houses have enough vitamin B to ensure it gets done. Feel that an auction house has not acted properly and want them to refund some of the costs or help on a service to get a watch fixed correctly? I have had auction houses come to my help on two occasions (the most generous one was Antiquorum) and they offered financial assistance in getting the watch in a condition that was promised in the auction description. This might not always be the case when you buy from a dealer or a private collector who will tell you – the watch is sold as is – after you buy it – it is your responsibility. 

For those interested in what an ideal number of watches make up a collection see our post here.

NB: Special thanks to Mr A for giving me some great insight related to this post.

by Edmond Saran