Story Highlight
– Cartier London Crash sold for $1.99 million at auction.
– Only three Crash watches made in 1987.
– 1973-74 Cartier Asymmetric sold for $850,000.
– Patek Philippe chronograph hammered at $1.96 million.
– Sotheby’s achieved highest total for Asian watch auction.
Full Story
Sotheby’s Hong Kong has achieved a historic milestone after selling a Cartier watch for a record sum, establishing the highest value ever for the brand at auction.
The piece in question, a Cartier London Crash believed to have been crafted in 1987, fetched $1.99 million from a Japanese collector, surpassing its estimated value by a significant margin following a competitive nine-minute bidding session.
Sotheby’s highlighted that this particular watch is among only three examples produced by Cartier’s London facility in that year.
Timepieces from this era of Cartier are revered in the collector community due to their limited production and bold aesthetics, a result of the innovative designs by Jean-Jacques Cartier and Rupert Emmerson at the Wright & Davies workshop in London.
The appeal of Cartier watches from this period has surged recently, with celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet and Jeff Goldblum often seen wearing these vintage models, characterised by their unusual shapes.
In addition to the landmark sale of the Cartier London Crash, other records were shattered during the event. A yellow gold Cartier London Asymmetric wristwatch from 1973-74, adorned with blue enamel, sold for an impressive $850,000—ten times its anticipated price. Moreover, a 1973 oval-form skeleton wristwatch from Cartier Paris in yellow gold realised nearly twenty times its estimated value, closing at $948,000.
Further high points from the auction included a significant 1924 Art Deco Patek Philippe single-button chronograph, which attracted a final bid of $1.96 million.
Additionally, another world record was established with the sale of a 1998 A. Lange & Söhne Tourbillon Pour le Mérite wristwatch, reference 701.007. With only 20 units believed to exist, it sold for $1,323,579.
The resurgence of interest in Daniel Roth watches, revitalised by LVMH, was demonstrated when a 1995 vintage Tourbillon Skeleton reached $866,000.
Joey Luk, Sotheby’s global head of watch collections sourcing & sales, expressed satisfaction over the auction’s success: “We are thrilled to have achieved the highest total ever realised for a watch auction in Asia, with a series of world auction records set this evening, including new benchmarks for a Cartier wristwatch and the A. Lange & Söhne Tourbillon Pour le Mérite, Reference 701.007. While the Cartier timepieces were the undeniable centrepiece, what proved equally exciting was the exceptional depth of bidding across both vintage watches and independent makers. With 97% of lots sold and more than half exceeding their high estimates, the result underscores the continued strength of the market and our leadership in the region.”
