Phillips Watches constantly sends communications touting record-breaking watch sales, to the point it has become distasteful.
If you feel the same way, then you may find the most recent debacle further solidifies your opinion. It appears yet another of the records achieved by Phillips, was done so under dubious circumstances, according to investigative research done by Perezcope.
Multiple parties are complicit but as the auctioneers — the so-called vintage watch experts — Phillips should be held liable above anyone else because it’s their reputation backing the timepieces they sell.
The private seller may be complicit, but if anyone can come in off the street and sell a watch through Phillips it still ultimately comes back to them to do their due diligence, and in the case of this record-breaking Speedmaster sale, they clearly did not.
When Phillips sold Paul Newman’s Daytona for over $17 million back in 2017, it was an exciting time. Seeing watches go for millions is exhilarating. However, with all these record sales, one should always be skeptical, just like if you read an article about a product, and the seller is also the author. Who stands to gain the most from the sale? If the author does, be especially cynical.
We don’t cover many watch auctions because our focus is and always has been new timepieces. However, we did cover the Speedmaster in question, as well as the somewhat comparable Paul Newman — both reached the highest auction prices ever for a Rolex and an Omega, respectively.
In both articles, we showed explicit skepticism, and so should every collector when considering paying huge premiums on pre-owned or vintage watches, especially when the valuations at the high end of the spectrum are so subjective.
Phillips allowed the Speedmaster in question to be presented at their auction — despite knowing that Omega would not authenticate the watch as an original — yet failed to disclose this to the public.
Update: Phillips has declined to comment on the misrepresentation of the Omega Speedmaster and has instead deferred to Omega who has taken legal action against former employees involved in the misrepresentation of this timepiece.
Photo by Phillips.
