A Wall Street Journal article’s allegations of an “alliance” between some Swiss luxury watch brands and Antiquorum auctioneers to boost the brands’ auction prices, prestige, and consumer demand are called “unfounded” and “misleading” by those in the story.

Osvaldo Patrizzi, founder of Antiquorum who left it in August, says, “There has never been any ‘collusion’ between Antiquorum and any watch manufacturer.”

The Oct. 8 front page article claimed international watch auctioneer Antiquorum S.A., Geneva, Switzerland, allegedly let some luxury watchmakers secretly “intervene” in its auctions to force up bids and sale prices on their vintage timepieces in order to boost their own market-perceived worth, retail prices of new watches, and demand by collectors and consumers. Alleged manipulation, claimed the article, involved helping organize the events and anonymous bidding by some brands on their own watches, especially at single-brand themed auctions.

Although the article names a number of top watch brands that “flocked to the auction market with Antiquorum and other houses” to use auctions as marketing tools, it focuses primarily on Antiquorum auctions of Patek Philippe and Omega watches.

The WJS article sparked what one online watch blogger called “some heated discussion in the [online] watch forums,” while the Web site Luxist.com said it raised “ethical questions about whether this is price fixing.”
http://www.jckonline.com/article/CA6493474.html

Posted: 10|24|07 at 9:03 am. Filed under: Auction News.