Christie’s Dubai sets new record for most expensive watch sold at auction in the Middle East

At the recently concluded Christie’s Watches Online: The Dubai Edit , the Patek Philippe’s Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref 5002 became the most expensive watch sold at auction in the Middle East when it sold for $1,590,000.

The Ref 5002 was inspired by the Star Caliber 2000, a double-sided pocket watch, and boasts of 12 complications with a movement made up of 686 parts. The complications include a tourbillon, perpetual calendar, moon age, leap year cycle, day of the week, month, date, fly back, minute repeater, sky chart, moon phases and orbit. The reverse dial reveals the angular progression of the stars and moon from the Northern Hemisphere and allows the wearer to observe the waxing and waning of the Earth’s satellite.

That Ref 5002 also became the most expensive watch sold online by Christie’s worldwide.

The online auction which was held from March 24-April 8, achieved a total of $14,120,250 with 89 per cent sold by lot, 100 per cent sold by value, and 131 per cent hammer above low estimate.

It became the highest grossing watches online auction for Christie’s ever, doubling the results achieved in an online watch auction in December 2020 in New York which recorded $7,743,370 in sales.

Christie’s Dubai said that a total of 558 registrants participated within its latest online watch auction, from a total of 37 countries. Of these, there were 13 countries such as Norway, Darussalam and Uganda, from where customers participated in the Christie’s Dubai online watch auction for the first time.

Read: Christie’s Dubai to conduct Middle East’s most valuable watch auction this month

Other noteworthy results at the Dubai online watch auction include two Gérald Genta watches (lot 127 and 128) as well as a Patek Philippe Ref 2499 3rd series. Lot 128, La Grande Sonnerie No.1, in platinum Ref G0025.7 by Gérald Genta was estimated at $30,000-40,000, but sold for $500,000, while lot 127, a yellow gold Grand Sonnerie No.3 by Genta achieved 10 times its low estimate, selling for $300,000.

Lot 161, the Patek Philippe Ref 2499, 3rd series sold also for $300,000. Another Patek Philippe, the Ref 5104P, a platinum and gold minute repeater with perpetual calendar, made in 2009, sold for $750,000, and lot 136, a rare 1952 steel Rolex, triple calendar chronograph Snow Compax, Ref 6036, tripled its pre-sale estimate and sold for $350,000.

“These very strong results of the sale demonstrate the continued strength of Christie’s online platform and its ability to reach the broadest possible global audience, establishing the highest value online watches sale ever offered at Christie’s,” said Remy Julia, head of Dubai Watches Department who oversaw the Dubai Edit auction.

“Additionally, this sale was the first Christie’s online auction to offer a timepiece with an estimate of over $1,000,000 and we are delighted that the Patek Philippe reference 5002 sold for $1,590,000, setting a new record for a watch sold online at Christie’s and for any watch sold at auction in the Middle East. This sale reinforces Christie’s online-first strategy and the strong appetite of our collectors from around the world. The sale opens the watch season 2021 on a very high level and will be remembered as one of the most exciting for Watches at Christie’s and the entire industry.”