GLau
[Patek Moderator]
14499
Dear all, Recently I attended a watch event and saw some amazing pieces!!
So many watches were there that this occasion felt like an auction review ! I was too busy to eat much but was totally full from viewing and inspecting so many watches.
This gathering was held at the classy and elegant Gentry Club, a private members club with rare whisky, cigars and other collectibles created for the VIPs of K11 Musea. K11 Musea is a new destination developed by New World Development with CEO Adrian Cheng’s vision of combining and promoting art, culture and design under one roof. New World Development also owns the famous Carlyle hotel in New York City under its Rosewood brand. The newly opened private club Carlyle & Co., inside Rosewood Hotel within K11 Musea, is modeled after the iconic Carlyle hotel with its famed supper club and Bemelmans jazz bar.
Although he did not present to the audience, the special “attendee” of the evening was THE Legendary auctioneer Tim Bourne, gentleman who auctioned off the highest priced watch in history (excluding charity auctions such as Only Watch) ! He was friendly, and explained to me that the Henry Graves Supercomplication, which was sold for $11mn in 2009, was auctioned off by him in 2014 for a staggering US$24mn !!!! Tim mentioned that the Supercomplication will unlikely see another auction given the buyer’s profile and horological passion. As a true professional, he would not say who the owner is even though I pestered him on it.
A couple years ago, Bonhams the UK auction house made a huge move/investment by hiring Tim THE Legend away from another place. Tim is now helping Bonhams to build its watch business in Asia. He told me the next Bonhams auction will be later on this year. I promised him that I will be there to watch him in action, and he said that he would find more enamel pieces for me to bid on. Was Tim fueling my addiction for enamel ?😂 Thinking more, I should have asked for his autograph and/or a GTG like a WIS groupie ! 😊
Terence and Josh of Watchbox on the left and middle, & on the right Vanessa, Head of Elite Client at K11. Vanessa, who is a Yale graduate and a former employee of Sotheby’s, has absolute fluency in Chinese (reading, writing and speaking) !!!
Watchbox (a large pre-owned luxury watch company with international presence) was the co-sponsor of the event and it gave a presentation about its vision & mission. It then presented and let the guests inspect trays of watches from big maisons to well-known independent brands: something for everyone. According to Josh (Director of Trading at Watchbox), Watchbox owns over 5,000 pieces in its inventory ! I can only imagine how much it takes to keep this many pieces !
Can you name them all ? ☝️
Can you name them all ? ☝️
The Moser Endeavour Concept Minute Repeater Tourbillon has a wonderful looking dial ! The MR sounds great ! It is a bit large for my small wrist though.☹️
Bar ☝️ with rare whisky 🥃
Lots of rare antiques and cigars ☝️
More exceptional antiques ☝️
Lovely view of Central from the spacious balcony ☝️
I had sweet dreams of toying with these grails while drinking whisky & eating cheese platter with prosciutto served that night !
Dear all, Recently I attended a watch event and saw some amazing pieces!!
5000 pieces in inventory would be impressive if it was a family business.
Backed by one Singaporean Private Equity firm, maybe others.
I'm impressed Jay, not everyone knows the setup. I'm sure the Singaporean PE owns a lot...
I guess my interest is in part due to wondering what will happen if (when) the PE money needs to exit. And what impact that might have on the market.
Indeed. Heavily laser targeted at Journe.
Well the consensus seems to be DeBethune and Lange. The former being somewhat easier to raise.
You are correct ! 25 starry varius ! The dial is very eye-catching in the metal !
greubel and forsey
