patrick_y[PuristSPro Moderator]
28404
I was in the room when it happened...
Apr 09, 2023,23:39 PM
And I felt something fishy was going on... I was asking myself, are there really two or more really crazy bidders bidding this watch? And if so, what kind of stories had these guys been fed... And whom fed those stories? Who poured the poison down that person's ear? Well, we don't know who the poisoner is, but this article does suggest that some sort of poison was being poured. Did the Chinese fella actually pay 3 million CHF? Or was it all orchestrated for the shock value (and the PR value)? And if it was orchestrated - who was involved? We may never really know...
And this is another reason why I don't buy vintage watches - I've been burned once - by a different auction house, Antiquorum. Nobody poured poison down my ear, just the auction house mis labeled the brand of the watch completely. I took the watch to the manufacturer for an official manufacturer restoration - that's when the watch was opened in my presence and both the head of restorations and I both exclaimed at the same time, it was not the right brand of watch. Antiquorum refused to correct the mistake in a fair and trustworthy manner. They wanted to keep my money and have me send in the watch with no promise of how they would proceed after.
Either way, the moral here is DO YOUR HOMEWORK, and DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. CAVEAT EMPTOR! And if you don't know what you're doing, probably don't put in 3 million Swiss Francs into it!
It was a head scratching moment. Everyone was wondering, what happened? Was this really a jewel that we didn't notice? Or was something funny going on?