Christie’s collector watch sales leap 20% in Dubai

Vintage and limited edition watches worth $2.5m were sold in Dubai through Christie's last year, up from $2.1m in2009.

Sales of expensive collector watches surged by nearly 20 per cent in Dubai auctions last year, says the auction house Christie's.

Vintage and limited edition watches worth US$2.5 million (Dh9.18m) were sold through its Dubai auctions, up 19.5 per cent on the $2.1m figure for 2009.

Alexandre Bigler, an associate vice president and specialist in the auctioneer's watch department, said: "Dubai is one of the emerging markets that we have where we, Christie's, have also been focusing our jewellery sales, With watches, we have realised in Dubai there are strong collectors and strong buyers, and we're trying to develop the market."

Last year's results came after a similar rise in 2009, when sales were up 19.3 per cent from $1.76m in 2008.

Sales growth in Dubai is in line with global trends, as Christie's International sold a record-breaking number of timepieces worldwide last year for a total of $91.2m.

The top watch worldwide was a Patek Philippe 1527 made in 1943 that sold for a record $5.7m at Christie's in Geneva.

"The market at the moment is showing strong signs of recovery. In Asia it is faster and the Middle East is also catching up," Mr Bigler said.

Demand for watches in the UAE is also picking up. In the first 11 months of last year the value of imported Swiss luxury watches reached 517.1m francs (Dh1.99 billion), up 30.2 per cent compared with the same period in 2009, the latest data from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry shows.

This is a marked turnaround from the 35 per cent drop in sales a year earlier.

Buyers at the Christie's sales in Dubai appear to have particular tastes. In addition to bejewelled pieces, collectors tend to gravitate towards exclusive, limited-edition timepieces of which only a couple of hundred are made, Mr Bigler said.

"It seems to be really what the market is craving for," he said.

"At the beginning, we thought they would be more into jewellery watches and diamonds set, and that is still the case.

"But their tastes are more complicated and finer than we thought."