Sotheby’s say that a Cartier Crash watch sold in Hong Kong last Friday for $2 million is a world record for the maker.
The auction house also said the sale was the highest grossing watch sale in Asia ever.
The Cartier Crash was pioneered by the French-founded company’s London office in 1967 in response to that city’s thirst for novelty.
The watch sold in Hong Kong was a 1987 example of the watch named for its alleged inspiration from a watch damaged in a car crash.
A 9-minute bidding battle ended with a Japanese collector (reportedly Valuence Holdings CEO Shinsuke Sakimoto) paying $2 million for the timepiece.
A Cartier Tank, another unusual shape from the brand, this one inspired by the tanks of World War I. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
The sale also set a record for a Cartier London Tank Normale and a new $850,000 top price for a Cartier London Asymmetric.
Sotheby’s say the sale, with “exceptional depth of bidding across both vintage watches and independent makers” is a landmark event.
It was the first sale from Sotheby’s to feature what is probably the largest collection of Cartier watches ever assembled. These watches will continue to appear in the house’s major watch sales.
Big sales in Geneva and New York are next on the horological calendar, and it if the record spending in Hong Kong is continued then it will look like a substantial change is afoot in the very high end watch market.
