:
: maybe the high-brow auction houses do a good
: job with the high-brow watches, but the fact
: that they would even offer this Monaco, and
: have such an inaccurate description of the
: watch, leaves me wondering why they even
: bother with the cheap stuff.

: Wrong hands, wrong needles, wrong pushers,
: awful paint on the white registers, crown
: hanging at crazy angle, etc.

: If we saw this on ebay, we would laugh and poke
: fun at the seller. Can anyone explain why we
: see this sort of thing at Antiquorum?

: Jeff

:

I can't explain or defend Antiquorum's descriptions, which are probably more accurate than not. But 51% correct is not something to be proud of . . . .

I viewed some of these watches in New York on Monday. In some cases, the catalog photos are awful. In one case, I passed over a watch in this same catalog as really decrepit. When I saw the watch in person it was remarkably more attractive. This was one of the "non-highbrow" watches.

This Monaco was not awful at a passing glance and appeared slightly better than it does in the photo. But I did not examine it in my hands and spent about 10 seconds on it, looking through the exhibition case glass.

If this watch sells at the top end of the estimate, $3,000, Antiquorum will make $1,000 -- 18% from the buyer and 15% from the seller. There is no excuse for there to not be a higher standard of care in the descriptions. Antiquorum guarantees nothing -- only that the watch is not an intentional fake, and you accept the watch as is as the hammer falls.

They rate the movement as 3*, which means the watch is running, but they have no idea when it was last serviced.

Think of this as Ebay without movement photos and an 18% buyers premium. That means the $3,000 winning bid will pay $3,540 . . .

Caveat emptor

Sam