greetings from mex

ape

: The following is a message posted on TimeZone, by mkvc, relating
: to an Antiquorum auction that was conducted yesterday and today.
: Here is his posting --
: http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=4315467&rid=3020

: I believe that his observations are similar to what we are seeing
: in the world of Heuers -- the prime quality pieces have held
: their value relatively well; the commodity / common / low end
: pieces have suffered more.

: So do you guys agree with the message shown below, and my quick
: summary of the vintage Heuer market?

: Jeff

: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Lessons learned at Antiquorum this Wednesday and Thursday

: I paid pretty close attention to the Antiquorum auction that just
: ended and came away with the following impressions:

: 1. The auction was a bit of a bloodbath. A lot of pieces failed to
: meet their reserves, and in some cases even to receive opening
: bids, even though Antiquorum was intentionally conservative in
: its price predictions.

: 2. There is a huge flight to quality taking place. The market is
: simply not interested in lesser-known or -respected brands. Even
: with the top brands, lesser models suffered.

: 3. As a corollary to point 2, the market does not seem to be buying
: into the appearance of exclusiveness. Companies that have been
: trying to bootstrap themselves up a notch or two in the
: hierarchy were firmly slammed back down and a lot of watches
: originally sold as limited editions generated minimal interest.

: 4. Items that are frequently available were not being snapped up.
: As far as I could tell, the only lots that generated real
: bidding interest were those that people did not feel they could
: just wait to pick up in a later auction.

: 5. Watches that formerly were sold at or above retail are now
: available new at a discount. That means that any watch being
: sold at auction while still available new must compete with that
: discount. Several lots apparently were priced without taking
: that fact into account.

: 6. I have never approved of Antiquorum's practice of allowing
: reserves that were higher than the lower end of their predicted
: price range (taking buyer's commission into account). As far as
: I'm concerned, if I'm willing to pay an overall total equal to
: the lower end of the predicted range, I should be able to get
: the watch. That practice came back to bite Antiquorum in this
: auction, as lot after lot was bid up to a level at which the
: buyer's total price would have been well inside the predicted
: price range and then failed to sell because it had not met its
: reserve.

: 7. It seems to me that more relatively heavily-used watches are
: being offered for sale, presumably because real watch lovers
: instead of "investors" are being forced to sell. This
: does not mean that the watches are damaged, but they are likely
: to show more signs of wear than "safe queens." In many
: cases those signs are subtle, so personal inspection of lots may
: become progressively more important before bidding.

: What did the rest of you think?