The Ultraluxe Watches event brought together Collector’s and Brands from across the globe to ‘talk about watches’ and discuss the current and future trends affecting the fantastic world of watches.
The event kicked off with George Bamford, founder of the Bamford Watch Department, who discussed his ‘Magpie Collecting’ tendencies with Simon de Burton – Contributing editor, Financial Times ‘How To Spend It’ – and passion for collecting weird and wonderful watches, including the rare and exceptional Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox known as the Snowdrop (see video of session here)
Next we met with some of the best and most passionate ‘Super Collectors’, Sid Vasili, Michael Hickcox and Antony Michaelson. The ‘Collector’s Masterclass’ panel was moderated Andrew Canter, Editor-In-Chief of MrWatchMaster, who asked them what does it take to become a ‘Super Collector’? The ‘Masterclass’ session, covered how you should start collecting and some of the pitfalls to look out for when buying watches.
The afternoon kicked off with a session looking at ‘Equality and Diversity in Collecting’. It was great to hear from Aurélie Picaud, Timepieces Director at Fabergé and JL Pomeroy, who joined us from New York, USA. She is a lover of watches and cars who has worked with major luxury brands. She spent 8-years at Cartier, where she was Vice President Sales & Marketing for North America.
We discussed the idea of redefining ‘luxury’ in light of the impact that the pandemic has had on the sector. We also talked about collecting from a gender perspective and how we should potentially drop the ‘Men’s’ and ‘Women’s’ labels for watches.
The final session of the day, ‘The Art of Collecting’ focused on the rapidly expanding pre-owned sector and the increasingly important role the Auction Houses have in determining the value of rare timepieces.
The discussion revolved around the extraordinary rise in value of independent brands, such as F.P. Journe and Philippe Dufour. The panel also gave their thoughts on what the ‘hot’ brands were likely to be going forward.
The panel was moderated by Richard Fox, an Auction Reporter and Author at MrWatchMaster. We heard from Paul Maudsley, a watch expert, who previously worked for Bonhams then Phillips Auction Houses, a career spanning almost 20-years, and now works on behalf of private clients.
Also on the panel was Eric Wind, Founder of Wind Vintage, and ex-Vice President, Senior Specialist of Watches at Christie’s in New York who joined us from Florida, USA. Nick Edgley, Global Operations Director at MrWatchMaster, who previously worked for Revolution Magazine and WOLF1834, added his expert views to the discussion.
We want to thank our partners, everyone that took part and everyone that attended – we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
The videos are now available and we are all looking forward to the next Ultraluxe Watches event.