PARIS.- In a week that sees Sotheby’s open its spectacular new Parisian headquarters on Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, the beating heart of the city’s art, fashion and luxury district, it delivers the company’s strongest ever performance for its Luxury Division in France. Its biannual Luxury Sale Week has just broken previous sale records both collectively and for each division, demonstrating the luxury market’s appetite for well curated sales filled with items of exceptional quality.

The Paris Fine Watches auction achieved a white glove sale for the second time consecutively, following excellent results in the March Luxury Sale. This week’s results – 3,463,080 Euros aggregate total, from 119 lots sold, showing a healthy 21% increase in the average price per lot compared to the March sale – bring the total for Sotheby’s Fine Watches Sales in 2024 to 7,455,454 Euros, the company’s best ever results, further cementing its leadership in France for the category.

The wide-ranging sale – in both estimates and styles – offered an overwhelming majority of watches from private collections, most of them appearing for the first time at auction, which added to their appeal. Once again, vintage watches continue to be sought-after and attract a high level of bidding, especially for lots featuring multiple complications from the golden greats such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Cartier.

Benoit Colson, Head of Fine Watches at Sotheby’s Paris said: “In a very competitive market dynamically influenced by increasingly knowledgeable and savvy buyers – even those fairly new to auction – this second white glove sale completes a milestone year for our Fine Watches division in France. This is the results of years of attentive listening to our clients and focusing on curating sales that prioritise timepieces of the highest quality, in the best condition possible, from private collections and across all estimates from low to high.”

The Fine Watches Sale topped a triumphant Luxury Sales Week for Sotheby’s in Paris that saw record breaking sales in the three other categories featured, namely Fine Jewellery, Luxury Handbags and Accessories and Fine Wines which beat all previous records for year totals.

The Fine Jewels Sale closed at a record-breaking 6,480,480 Euros, including the sale of the Collection of Dame Shirley Bassey which exceeded its high estimate by achieving 2,197,080 Euros – all in all, a best ever sale and year for the division when added to the result of the Fine Jewels Sale earlier in March.

The Luxury Handbags and Accessories Sale totalled 2,162,280 Euros – selling mostly Hermes Birkin and Kelly bags just as Sotheby’s is exhibiting the original Birking bag for the first time in France in its new Paris headquarters.

Finally, the Fine Wines Sale scored its best ever week of sales during Luxury Sales Week, totaling 4,045,450 Euros across its three sales of the finest wines of exceptional provenance: Journey through Iconic Vineyards, The Ultimate Grand Format and Glorious Romanée-Conti. Of note, Sotheby’s also sold two Primats (a 27 litre bottle) for the first time in its wine selling history.