kelvkwok
11
My very first experience with an Auction House
I also have my first time with one in May. It was an auction in Geneva in May. They shipped the watch to where I lived in late May, sound reasonable but I was out of town. When I met them in early Jun trying to collect what I have bid for, I was so surprise when I saw the watch in the very first 10 seconds. The watch supposed with Flash Calendar function stuck in between 31 and 1 in the date indicator.
I reported the problem immediately to the auction house staff but he claimed my watch model was very rare and he has no experience on it. He said it should not be a problem and tried to push me to accept it. After I strongly stand my point that the watch has a problem, he back off and said he would consult other colleagues later on. That was 3 weeks ago.
Last week, he told me the watch was with manufacturer's local service center and it really seems to be a problem. He said the service center needed 4 weeks to have an inspection of it and may need to send back to manufacturer's original service center in Switzerland to have further checking and fixing of the problem.
I don't expect I can get another look on that watch in year 2017.
Not a very pleasant first time experience.
Auction season pretty much at an end
I am curious to hear how other PuristS have been treated by the auction houses this season or recently. In summary, I thought it was another good season for Phillips and Christie\'s. Their offerings were widely better than others. I was a buyer at Christi...
Reputations of auction houses are paramount and can easily go astray.
Recent incident but and old story. nypost.com
As for AQ, their reputation is toast in my book
and even though they are now two separate companies, I would not consider either. Thanks Bill!
You should send this article to Ben Clymer, Bill.
Maybe he'll retract his idiotic cover story on the "Vladmir" Putin PP.
:-)
What surprised me about that trash Putin article was that Bloomberg also ran it, exactly. It seems like Bloomberg makes no effort to edit the H articles. I lost a lot of respect for Bloomberg.
Doesn't he write for Bloomberg as well?
And if so it shows you how intellectually lazy he has become.
Hehe...it will be a wait before I get the 2nd one
Alex, I have a hunch you will relate closely to it, I think I have seen you post a similar one from your collection. As for the other one, I have shown the CP-2 quite frequently on the forum now so the PuristS have had their fill of it. ...
My very first experience with an Auction House
I also have my first time with one in May. It was an auction in Geneva in May. They shipped the watch to where I lived in late May, sound reasonable but I was out of town. When I met them in early Jun trying to collect what I have bid for, I was so surpri...
I am sorry to hear
It is very unfortunate. Please update about what happens. It is good to know about these things.
An update for the status
The auction house paid for the repair for the watch and sent it back to Switzerland. It is now under repair and hopefully it can be complete in 12 weeks time.
Thanks for the update.
Good that they paid for the service. Hope it comes back in great condition for you.
Artcurial are very friendly and quick to respond
I like them; their English is very good so I do not need to use my poor French. They have some great pieces sometimes. AQ = fail.
Buying from auction is like buying a cat in the bag, and some thoughts
Personnally I have never bought from Artcurial, Antiquorum or any other auction house. Let me explain why and her are the reasons why I will never do so: -no possibility to open the watch or see the movement -no real warranty such as an invoice from a wat...
The frankenwatch is a real worry
if you buy vintage or any watch with a solid case back and the auctioneer does not open the watch. It is always a worry for me too. But times have changed and there are various auctioneers that show the case back with high quality pictures. Watches of Kni...
even on chrono 24, watches of knightbridge don't show movement pictures...
offerings are for some in good condition but for most of them are in average condition. An auctioneer isn't an expert, nor a watchmaker, he is here to cash money and make a profit, not necessarily make a long term customer. That is why I stay away from au...
Go to their website
That is where you see more pictures. They will usually post movement pictures for the stars of the auction. Not for every watch. I have not bought anything from WoK, but I have put in bids in the past that lost. I don't really know if they are great peopl...
