What time is it? Watches and horology

Smaller gold watches, especially Cartier, but also 70s designs like the PP Golden Ellipse becoming popular. See also the solid gold Piaget Polo remake.

£10k though.

If they could make a BB54 with this monochrome approach I'd buy one immediately. Please Tudor. Please.

Nice little Ingersoll/Smiths early 1970s diver for me today.

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Maybe a less wearable colour option but a pretty colour all the same;

To be worn only for the Giro

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That is nice, I am not a GS fan but that is lovely!

Why the rivets still?!?

I am liking this, but not sure I have the cash!!

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Reassuringly expensive

They’ll do anything to make suckers want the most boring chrono in the universe

A propos le Bulgari on the previous page, if I were to spend stupid money on an Octo it might be this marble one. It took a long, long time to make:

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/bulgari-octo-finissimo-tourbillon-watch-in-marble-for-only-watch-2023/

It was a one-off, made for a charity auction which didn't happen because of governance issues at the charity. So it must be sitting in someone's drawer at Bulgari HQ. After I win the lottery this evening I might make them an offer.

that looks everso slightly bonkers, I can't imagine the profession of the wearer

I'm hoping it's been in the sea, definitely a heavy weight to me, how's the strap/bracelet working with it?

Shades of the Tissot Rock Watch with that one...

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Yeah, it’s nice with the faux vintage vibe dialled back.

The auction is back on and happening quite soon, but not all the brands that made watches are confirmed to be in it. I think that marble Octo Finissimo is, though.

Yeah I’ve no idea of its history but I love it. Not sure I’d risk it under the water now! Strap is just a cheapo rubber one for now. What should I fit??

I'm a novice, but helson did a bracelet that ran from mesh to links,, if there were something like that but more refined.. although it maybe ruining it, with a simpler solution round the corner

Honestly I'd even settle for a BB58. Feel like this is the closest a Tudor has ever gotten to what a Rolex 5508 would've looked like straight out the factory.

Aha! I see that anyone can bid via christies.com. Do you think it will fetch top dollar, or is it too weird?

Surely enough cachet attached to Bulgari/it’s uniqueness/provenance that it’s strangeness will be in it’s favour.

Are values crashing in the Far East? Christies just had an auction in Hong Kong. Some of the prices fetched seem low to my untutored eye https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/watches-online-hong-kong-edit/lots/3502?page=1&sortby=EstimateHighToLow For example, £23k for this gold Sub https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/watches-online-hong-kong-edit/rolex-submariner-ref-116618lb-97/216454?ldp_breadcrumb=back or £35k for this rose gold Day-Date https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/watches-online-hong-kong-edit/rolex-day-date-40-ref-228235-86/216440?ldp_breadcrumb=back

The FT had a long piece in March about dropping values. Some quotes: "resale market prices for luxury watches have now fallen for seven straight quarters, having peaked in May 2022"
"second-hand value of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet watches rose nearly 50 per cent on average between the first quarter of 2020 and the same period in 2022... by the fourth quarter of last year those values had slumped more than 20 per cent."
"the price gap between Rolex’s second-hand and new models has narrowed significantly compared with the peak of March 2022, down to a 20 per cent resale premium on average today versus an estimated 90 per cent"

Looks like I missed my chance to get a good price for my Bell and Ross Hydromax.

Same - I was also naively hoping for a blue bb54 but I don’t anything about how this all works…

Difficult to value a stone watch vs a gold/platinum one.

Aha! I see that anyone can bid via christies.com. Do you think it will fetch top dollar, or is it too weird?

Have a punt I guess!