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This was a Chinese client who is auctioning it off to move money outside of China. This is a rather common occurrence. Basically, money laundering so the wealthy can move money outside of China through transfer of luxury goods. Buyer and seller are almost
certainly connected.
Hi All, Upon finding out this “unique” 5531 (due to a beautiful bracelet) would be auctioned off, I was disappointed that the owner who bought it in February 2020 would already be selling.
Aside from making a good profit, do you think that there could be other legitimate reasons why the owner had to sell ? What is going on ? Did the AD perform its proper due diligence ? Other reasons or thoughts ? ...
And a second question that I have is how Dufour is going to price the remaining 20th anniversary simplicity watches yet to be made ...
And how long would it take for them to be recycled into the auction market.
Don't we already know watch collecting is not the same anymore? It has become a commodity and "investment"...
Reason is simple...there are still passion but seem more about $ and cents....auction houses, blogs with the descriptions of "rare" and "highly sought after" helps, lol....
Superb reply
My notes. When i’m stepping in watch collecting, this was already going on. 2018. I do not know better the watch world turn to this. It reflex my direction, collecting watches which i can afford, and the watches which run to crazy price ranges are to fara...
It wasn't me Gordon!! :-)
Perhaps the effects of the pandemic has resulted in the owner being forced to sell his prized possession!
Don't know about what Nico thinks but I would have to assume it was profit driven or a publicity stunt (worse case scenario)...
Just cannot see someone paying a couple hundred thousand CHF for the watch if they were in financial trouble 🤦♂️🤷♂️ That just makes zero sense.
I can guarantee that it wasn’t me... if I ever get this watch it won’t be sold in my lifetime 😏
But prefer it with a strap (Not my watch 😂) ...
Allocation of those pieces is not made by ADs.
Decision is made in Geneva which makes the matter even more frustrating. However, since this piece appears to be rather unique, PP will surely be or become aware of the sale and blacklist the seller.
not at all....
more likely Thierry will assign more high end pieces to the seller so that PP can profit from the publicity they get from those sales. like us discussing how is it possible that someone has the audacity to make 800K USD by selling a wonderful watch:: )) w...
Hi ronhan, do you really think that actually ...
Patek is behind this particular situation ?
That's the point - I don't see anyone behind whatever.
Someone bought a watch, was legal owner(!) of that watch, and finally sold that watch. Patek got what they wanted. Afterwards, the buyer/seller got what he wanted. Obviously, this whole thing is a problem for a few collectors only, because they never ever...
Hi V, I understand that Geneva has the final say, but the AD did make the...
recommendation and vouched for the buyer. Should the AD be partly responsible ?
Definitely!
Still upsetting to learn that after all these process, things like this still happens. Given the benefit of the doubt of Covid victims, ( I don’t think the person who can afford this kind of piece would be affected that much) still... AD should be fully r...
Yes cbb, I thought the AD would get in trouble too because it recommended the customer !
However, my AD said that Geneva had the final say and did not think this German AD would be in trouble. Your thoughts 🤔 🤔??
Also, the diameter of the watch is 40,2 not 42.
The owner must be known to Patek in Geneva and probably is risking to be blacklisted. Does anybody know how Patek is handling these cases?
Yep, I'm afraid there's no "probably" there. This was certainly a one-off approved by Geneva, so the name is very well known.
Barring (truly) exceptional circumstances of which I'm sure the original owner would have informed Patek, I can't really envision a situation in which he/she will ever be allocated another Patek in the future ;-)
Very happy that some lucky collector was able to seize this beauty today, but indeed, barring exceptional circumstances, it was pretty egregious of the owner to auction this unique piece just a few months after being granted it by Patek! ;-)
In any event, this is one true beauty -- I love this reference even more as /1R than on a strap! Cheers.
It’s hard to believe whomever has discretionary spend large enough to get approval from Geneva to buy this piece would be under pressure to sell so quickly.
One never knows however. I would ask if this is (big picture) a bad thing. Surely the price attained is a positive for Patek marketing. More interesting to me is that the 5131 seems to be softening (at auction at least). J sold for CHF65 and G sold for CH...
Thanks, my assumption was the prices I saw on the app were not including BP. (Not sure why they can’t update those post auction quickly).
Considering the dealer asks on these, the seller of both here is getting half of that maybe. Many times I really don’t know why sellers consign to auction houses as it would seem it’s far easier to just call a reputable dealer.
I have my own thoughts on this but there is no doubt that Patek wins out for the free publicity this auction will bring...
Sadly nowadays, it's mostly amount profit and less about collecting 😕 😪 🤷♂️
Maybe PP knows something we don't
I am sure this will not go unnoticed but if they "allow" this or not is another question. Anyway, it's not our watch so we can't do anything but dream. They should allocate 1 to you Gordon, I don't know anyone more passionate for PP enamel dials. I don't ...
Thanks Benzng for your kind words ! Unfortunately I do not have the....
$$$$ to quality for this piece 😢 Passion wise, I do qualify, right ?
Thanks for your interesting comments ! Do you...
know this situation for a fact , or are you guessing ? The AD that sold the 5531 is based in Germany. Hence, IMO the owner had to pay Euro to this German AD in Germany.
Sad truth
I know the whole story of where the watch was purchased from, price it was paid for, who got it first hand and then how it went through to the auction house. All I can say is that this is one big mess up transaction and deal. The promise was broken badly ...
Hi Khun Krittyot, A warm welcome to our Patek forum !
Interesting that you have first hand knowledge of the actual events. While keeping sensitive matters confidential (such as names), are you able to provide an overview of what happened and how you became knowledgeable of the situation ?
Oh well....
It’s extremely sensitive. The Chinese guy was advised like a hundred times to keep the watch as secure as possible but he screwed it. Indeed, he would never get a chance to own this piece if not because of COVID-19. Not a money issue at all but this is al...
Chinese buyer?!?
I thought the watch was sold through an European location. Did the Chinese buyer purchase this via phone and shipment delayed or cancelled due to Covid19? I know there are travel restrictions in place for travel between EU and China. Buying a MR and piece...
Ok...agree to disagree
Patek has been clamping down on these so called “deliveries”. If the watch is in the realm of a MR then I believe it has to be picked up in person. They will want an in person demonstration of how the watch works and make sure you understand it as well. A...
Tough call
It was picked up in person. For this kind of super high end watch, forget about delivery, more or less the one and only watch like this. Unfortunately, something unexpectedly happened. I will not go into details.
Thank you
Thanks for the update. Hope it’s not health related issues and the buyer is fine. Financial issues can always be “solved”, health then even with all the money in the world cannot buy...