Many international currencies feature in coin watches, including Mexican pesos and Napoleon III French francs. The record for a coin watch sold at the auction house was set in November 2021, when a 1992 Patek Philippe gold and diamond-set example with skeletonised dial achieved HK$600,000 ($77,000) - three times the low estimate.Īt Heritage Auctions, watch collectors account for 80 per cent of coin watch purchases, while coin collectors - who, says Wolf, typically prefer a wristwatch version so they can wear it and show it off when “doing coin business” - account for the remainder. There is “an important pool” of watch collectors in Asia, particularly Taipei, who appreciate the high level of craftsmanship and miniaturisation in coin watches, says Remi Guillemin, head of Christie’s watch department in Geneva. Selmoni believes early coin watches were bespoke orders and then, between the 1960s and 1990s, the brand made 10-15 pieces a year, with 90 per cent being wristwatches.Ī Patek Philippe gold and diamond coin watch While the company’s archives include references to coin watches in the second half of the 19th century, the first one of which it has a picture dates from 1927. He notes that prices for its coin watches have been rising in the past two years because there is more interest in Vacheron Constantin on the secondary market. “They offer us a rich storytelling and are very intricate and exclusive,” he says. Heritage Auctions sold seven coin watches in one sale in November a Patek Philippe Reference 801 gold $10 coin example from the 1980s fetched $40,000.Ĭhristian Selmoni, style and heritage director at Vacheron Constantin, is trying to acquire coin watches for the brand’s Les Collectionneurs vintage offering. “So, when they see a coin watch by one of those makers, it intrigues them in several ways: the brand name, the fact it’s a novelty . . . and that it is different from a wristwatch,” he says. Wolf says interest has increased because collectors who started with wristwatches are “branching out” into pocket watches by brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe and Rolex. Prices for rarer examples - by Patek Philippe, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet - have risen by 20-25 per cent in the past two years, according to Jim Wolf, director of watches and fine timepieces at Heritage Auctions in the US, while those for pieces by Corum, Eska and Piaget have grown 10-15 per cent.
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