Patek Philippe 5104 Watch - Not Ready For The Auction House?

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Jun 3rd 2010 at 6:01AM

Very soon Antiquorum will hold another one of its well-publicized watch and clock auctions in New York City. A few times a year, the group works to wow watch lovers with its rare and interesting timepieces that often go for "record breaking" prices. Unsurprisingly, these auctions are usually headlined by a rare Patek Philippe watch - the existence of which is so common given that at least a few are are showcased each auction, I wonder how rare, a rate Patek Philippe watch actually is. This upcoming auction, the featured piece is a high-end Patek Philippe Ref. 5104 watch. A complex, skeletonized timepiece made about two years ago. It has Patek's interesting Caliber R 27 PS QR automatic movement with a host of complications including a minute repeater, perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and micro rotor for the automatic winding. The platinum case is 43mm wide and has 18k red gold on its sides in a decorative style similar to that on the famous Sky Moon Tourbillon. The real thing people notice about the watch is the skeletonization - which is rather intense. The watch is still pretty easy to read actually. The sapphire crystal disc dials on the face have a small blue hands behind them that highlight the correct information. Of interest as well is the retrograde periphery style date indicator. Released so recently, there are still a few Ref. 5104 watches on the market new, so is an auction right now wise?

With an estimated auction price of $500,000 - $700,000, the watch has a ceiling price of $700,000 because you can probably still get a new one at that price. Antiquorum loves to boast about how their Patek Philippe watches often get prices above estimate - but that won't likely happen here for this newer Patek Philippe watch. Not that the price is cheap (by any means), but Antiquorum might be doing itself harm by highlighting a piece that won't reach extraordinary prices. The ceiling price is what ever the lowest price one of these watches costs new. It makes much more sense for the auction house to showcase unavailable, or otherwise very hard to get watches. I did a simple Google search and found at least two of these watches are available online. A lukewarm yield for the 5104 watch could slightly harm the sharp momentum that rare Patek Philippe watches are gaining on the collector's and auction market. Just my two cents.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: 5104, antiquorum, auction, patek philippe