Auction catalogs can be overwhelming. You’re presented, all at once, with hundreds of AAA UK replica watches from all sorts of eras and all sorts of makers. Each watch has its own history, and the price that ends up being paid for each watch is the result of a series of small decisions made by the consignor, the auction house, and – the most important person in the room – the buyer.
I’m in Geneva this week for the first major swing of the auction calendar. Phillips, Antiquorum, Sotheby’s, and Christie’s have all put together some serious, heavy-hitting catalogs, filled with all sorts of special and interesting 1:1 top fake watches. On Sunday, I took a look at 24 of the lots I found most compelling at the two different Phillips auctions taking place, and now we’ll be taking a look at a few of the top lots and highlights from the remaining three auctions on the calendar.
Lot 32: Watch Goaaaaaaaals (Replica Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 116509H ‘FIFA World Cup 2010 Watches, Netherlands Edition’)
I first saw this watch a month ago when I stopped by Sotheby’s Geneva during Watches & Wonders. This special Swiss made replica Rolex Daytona watches was crafted for members of the Netherlands National Football/Soccer team that made it to the 2010 World Cup Final in South Africa, which they ended up losing against Spain. The story, according to Sotheby’s, is that the Dutch national team filed a request to Rolex through Gassan Jewelers, a Rolex AD in Amsterdam, for a commemorative batch of 30 luxury copy watches. Rolex agreed, creating a special white-gold Daytona 116509H with a unique black dial with orange accents.
The Sotheby’s specialist I met with during W&W was working at Rolex at the time and admitted that he wasn’t aware the online replica watches existed until it was consigned at Sotheby’s, speaking to how hush-hush Rolex goes about these sorts of things. Thirty high quality Rolex Daytona super clone watches were created with this dial – 15 on a white gold bracelet; 15 on a leather strap – and they were gifted to all of the Dutch players on the final-qualifying squad in addition to a few important staff members. The example Sotheby’s has comes from one of the players on the team and is engraved with the individual’s last name and number on the caseback. As far as I can tell, this is the first example of the 30-piece series to become publicly available. Sotheby’s has an estimate of CHF 60,000 – 100,000.
Lot 48: An Alpha Of An Omega (1958 Omega Speedmaster Ref. 2915-1 Fake Watches)
As far as I’m aware, this right here is the first 2915-1 to come to auction since last November’s record-breaker at Phillips Geneva. The watch at Phillips sold for an unexpected, stunning total of more than $3.4 million, a record for any cheap Omega replica watches at auction. Will this upcoming example at Sotheby’s come close to that? Probably not.
While still an early, first-series 2915, it was produced a year after the Phillips watch and it’s unlikely we’ll see two bidders go crazy in the same way we did last fall. Interest – and subsequently, prices – for the perfect fake Omega Speedmaster 2915-1 watches have been on a steady increase over the past decade. After all, it really wasn’t that long ago that they were selling for under $150,000, and then $275,000, and then really heating up at over $400,000 in 2018. No one expected the 2915-1 at Phillips to go so high, so it’ll be interesting to see exactly where lot 48 settles and should potentially be more reflective of the reference’s true current value.
Lot 133: Crash Into Me (Cartier London Crash Replica Watches, Dated To 1990)
Have we reached peak Crash? Or will the wholesale replica Cartier Crash watches, pardon the pun, crash? As we wait with anticipation to see how the Cartier Week at Loupe This (the online auction platform run by our old pal Eric Ku) – which currently has two Crash examples available; a Cartier Paris, dated 1991, and a Cartier London, dated 1967 – we’ll have another Crash to look forward to at Christie’s with lot 133.
The Cartier Crash fake watches shop site has always been made in small series production, typically by hand, and this 1990 Cartier London example is no different. When “Cartier London” and “Crash” come together, my mind immediately jolts to the late 1960s/early ’70s versions, similar to the one on Loupe This and the record-breaking example that sold last November at Sotheby’s Geneva for CHF 806,500. But by all appearances, this ‘noughties model is straight kosher. The dial is signed with the signature Cartier London cursive script, and the deployant clasp, also rendered in “Crash” style, features the appropriate hallmarks that date it to Cartier London in 1990. It will be an interesting test of the Crash market to see just where this example, and the pair listed on Loupe This, end up. Christie’s believes it will be under CHF 300,000 all-in, with a given estimate of CHF 180,000 to 280,000.