By Lee Chyen Yee and Donny Kwok
HONG KONG | Tue May 24, 2011 11:25am EDT
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, expects its auction sales for watches to increase by a quarter this year in Hong Kong, now its biggest market for such auctions, an executive said on Tuesday.
Sotheby's, which competes with the world's largest auction house, privately-held Christie's, is seeing Hong Kong as an increasingly important market as the auction market is now its biggest for watches, fine wines and Chinese art.
It has sold a total of HK$73 million ($9.6 million) worth of wrist watches so far in 2011, and expects the current pace to continue through the rest of 2011.
"I think it's very durable to repeat that in the next season," Vanessa Herrera, director of China and Southeast Asia and Head of Watches Department, told the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in Hong Kong.
Sotheby's sold HK$109.3 million worth of watches in Hong Kong in 2010.
"For us, we are constantly getting new blood, new people coming to transact. In our sales, 30 percent of the buyers are new," said Herrera, who herself wears a Rolex. "Watches are a very affordable luxury."
Last year, Sotheby's in Hong Kong, which specializes in modern wrist watches made from the 1970s and coming from famous brands, such as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, sold watches totaling about $12.2 million.
In Hong Kong, Sotheby's achieved record sales of HK$3.49 billion, driven by sales of Chinese art, watches, wine and jewelry. The Hong Kong operations are its biggest auction market for wine and watches.
Sotheby's reported net income of $2.4 million for the first quarter of 2011, reversing a loss of $2.2 million a year earlier.
Last year proved one of the best, with Christie's posting a record $5 billion in sales and Sotheby's making $774 million in revenue -- six times more than 2009 and its second highest ever apart from 2007. It was a far cry from 2009's dire drop in sales amid the global financial crisis.
New collectors from Russia, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Qatar and South America have also upped the ante, flush with cash and ready to create instant collections.
Sotheby's shares have fallen 9.5 percent so far this year.
(Additional reporting by Rachel Lee and Alison Leung; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Chris Lewis)
By Lee Chyen Yee and Donny Kwok
HONG KONG | Tue May 24, 2011 11:25am EDT
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, expects its auction sales for watches to increase by a quarter this year in Hong Kong, now its biggest market for such auctions, an executive said on Tuesday.
Sotheby's, which competes with the world's largest auction house, privately-held Christie's, is seeing Hong Kong as an increasingly important market as the auction market is now its biggest for watches, fine wines and Chinese art.
It has sold a total of HK$73 million ($9.6 million) worth of wrist watches so far in 2011, and expects the current pace to continue through the rest of 2011.
"I think it's very durable to repeat that in the next season," Vanessa Herrera, director of China and Southeast Asia and Head of Watches Department, told the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in Hong Kong.
Sotheby's sold HK$109.3 million worth of watches in Hong Kong in 2010.
"For us, we are constantly getting new blood, new people coming to transact. In our sales, 30 percent of the buyers are new," said Herrera, who herself wears a Rolex. "Watches are a very affordable luxury."
Last year, Sotheby's in Hong Kong, which specializes in modern wrist watches made from the 1970s and coming from famous brands, such as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, sold watches totaling about $12.2 million.
In Hong Kong, Sotheby's achieved record sales of HK$3.49 billion, driven by sales of Chinese art, watches, wine and jewelry. The Hong Kong operations are its biggest auction market for wine and watches.
Sotheby's reported net income of $2.4 million for the first quarter of 2011, reversing a loss of $2.2 million a year earlier.
Last year proved one of the best, with Christie's posting a record $5 billion in sales and Sotheby's making $774 million in revenue -- six times more than 2009 and its second highest ever apart from 2007. It was a far cry from 2009's dire drop in sales amid the global financial crisis.
New collectors from Russia, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Qatar and South America have also upped the ante, flush with cash and ready to create instant collections.
Sotheby's shares have fallen 9.5 percent so far this year.
(Additional reporting by Rachel Lee and Alison Leung; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Chris Lewis)
By Lee Chyen Yee and Donny Kwok
HONG KONG | Tue May 24, 2011 11:25am EDT
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, expects its auction sales for watches to increase by a quarter this year in Hong Kong, now its biggest market for such auctions, an executive said on Tuesday.
Sotheby's, which competes with the world's largest auction house, privately-held Christie's, is seeing Hong Kong as an increasingly important market as the auction market is now its biggest for watches, fine wines and Chinese art.
It has sold a total of HK$73 million ($9.6 million) worth of wrist watches so far in 2011, and expects the current pace to continue through the rest of 2011.
"I think it's very durable to repeat that in the next season," Vanessa Herrera, director of China and Southeast Asia and Head of Watches Department, told the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in Hong Kong.
Sotheby's sold HK$109.3 million worth of watches in Hong Kong in 2010.
"For us, we are constantly getting new blood, new people coming to transact. In our sales, 30 percent of the buyers are new," said Herrera, who herself wears a Rolex. "Watches are a very affordable luxury."
Last year, Sotheby's in Hong Kong, which specializes in modern wrist watches made from the 1970s and coming from famous brands, such as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, sold watches totaling about $12.2 million.
In Hong Kong, Sotheby's achieved record sales of HK$3.49 billion, driven by sales of Chinese art, watches, wine and jewelry. The Hong Kong operations are its biggest auction market for wine and watches.
Sotheby's reported net income of $2.4 million for the first quarter of 2011, reversing a loss of $2.2 million a year earlier.
Last year proved one of the best, with Christie's posting a record $5 billion in sales and Sotheby's making $774 million in revenue -- six times more than 2009 and its second highest ever apart from 2007. It was a far cry from 2009's dire drop in sales amid the global financial crisis.
New collectors from Russia, Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Qatar and South America have also upped the ante, flush with cash and ready to create instant collections.
Sotheby's shares have fallen 9.5 percent so far this year.
(Additional reporting by Rachel Lee and Alison Leung; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Chris Lewis)
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