Plenty of businesses would be pleased with annual sales of $13.6m, so it is hardly surprising that Aurel Bacs, co-head of Christie’s international watch department, is delighted. Last month, he presided over an auction that grossed that sum in a day, while last year’s sales topped $51m.
The numbers are a far cry from the SFr5 Mr Bacs paid for his first wristwatch as a 12-year-old, having been introduced to the wonders of vintage horology by his enthusiast father, but even by that age he had learned to recognise that not all watches are the same.
“My father used to attend the Basel watch fair in the 1960s and he strongly disapproved of the quartz revolution, so he would visit flea markets and auctions to find mechanical pieces from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Often, he took me with him, and I inherited his enthusiasm,” says 35-year-old Mr Bacs.
“Throughout my teenage years, I went to as many events as possible, met experts and collectors and discovered I could trade a SFr50 watch for SFr80 – a profit which, at that age, seemed amazing.
“I then noticed there were price discrepancies from one country to the next, so I began travelling by train from my home in Zurich to Germany and Austria to buy watches that cost less than I could sell them for.”
‘The higher-end clients who might once have bought just one superb, high-value watch are now buying several’
What began as a schoolboy hobby, however, turned into a troublesome distraction after Mr Bacs started studying law at the University of St Gallen, where he spent more time hunting interesting watches than reading textbooks.
“I was at university when someone showed me an advertisement for the post of watch specialist with Sotheby’s in Geneva. I had no real intention of giving up on a law career but somehow, after several interviews, I was offered the job.”
Under the mentorship of various Sotheby’s experts, notably Daryn Schnipper, head of the New York watch department, Mr Bacs settled into the auction scene.
In five years, sale totals rose from hundreds of thousands to millions, at which point he was poached by the then newly-formed art consultancy of de Pury and Luxembourg, which was established to facilitate big-money private treaty sales for select high-end clients.
“It seemed to offer the opportunity to deal with the best clients and the best watches without all the downsides of working for an auction house, such as catalogue deadlines, endless administration and dealing with high volumes. However, within six months de Pury and Luxembourg merged with Phillips auctioneers and I was made head of the watch department,” he explains
“I was back where I had started, working for an auction house that was not in pole position in the watch world.” After six months of frantic work, however, Mr Bacs was ready to hold his first auction for Phillips de Pury and Luxembourg, which, despite taking place two months after 9/11, proved a runaway success, not least because it established a new world record price for a wristwatch with the sale of the ex-Marshall Tito Patek Philippe Reference 1591 for $1.9m.
“After two fantastic years with Phillips, I had made up my mind to leave the auction world and focus again on private sales of high-end pieces. However, it seems my destiny is to stay in the auction game, because in the summer of 2003, I ended up joining Christie’s.”
When Mr Bacs took the helm in the Geneva-based department, Christie’s worldwide annual turnover of watches was $13m, a sum matched by the total of last month’s sale alone. The department also lays claim to establishing no fewer than 80 world record prices during the past three years and, last year raised annual sales by $6m.
Why has the market for vintage watches exploded, and why are buyers and sellers choosing Christie’s?
“The manufacturers are constantly raising public awareness that a watch can be more than just an instrument for telling the time, and the higher-end clients who might once have bought just one superb, high-value watch are now buying several,” explains Mr Bacs.
“The best vintage pieces, in particular, have become sought-after because they represent the ultimate language of distinction, as each is unique. They are seen as a sign of style, knowledge and connoisseurship.
“Auctions have become more successful, because the means of doing business has accelerated through on-line catalogues. The internet has provided an incredible boost to the market, because it has made auctions so much more accessible.”
Mr Bacs appreciates that auction houses must offer the best of the best. Realistically, it is the top 5 per cent of the tens of millions of wristwatches in the world that drives the market.
“We believe Christie’s has the world’s leading team of watch specialists to share the best expertise available in today’s market with our clients. But to stay on top, we need to maintain an unparallelled reputation for professionalism, integrity and dedication.
“To complement this, we have developed an incredibly sophisticated product that goes above and beyond simply auctioning a wristwatch.
“We help clients build watch libraries, publish books on their collections and help them research their pieces, none of which earns us any money – but it does form a relationship with our clients that is beneficial to both sides.
“The world of vintage watches has become an amazing one, and I believe it still has enormous potential. Prices for the best pieces are at an all-time high, but it is certainly not too late to jump on the train.”
