A private watch collection assembled by Palm Beach real estate developer Todd Michael Glaser brought in about $1.65 million at Christie’s “Important Watches” auction in New York.
Twenty-six of the 27 watches sold during the June 12 auction, according to Christie’s. Glaser spent about 25 years assembling the collection, which included timepieces from luxury makers such as Patek Philippe, Rolex and Cartier.
A platinum Cartier Tank Cintrée with red Arabic numerals was the highest-selling piece from the collection, bringing $279,400, according to Christie’s.
Glaser was traveling and couldn’t be reached for comment. But he said previously the Cartier Tank Cintrée was among his favorite pieces.
“There’s only one in the world,” he told the Daily News prior to the auction. “It’s beautiful.”
Other notable watches from Glaser’s collection included Patek Philippe and Rolex models with rare dial variations and platinum cases.
Christie’s said the “Important Watches” sale totaled about $17 million and was 99% sold by lot, with strong international participation. Nearly half of bids came from the Americas.
Glaser, known for developing, remodeling and restoring high-end properties in Palm Beach and Miami Beach, spent decades building the collection. He said his interest in watches is closely tied to his family and a longstanding appreciation for timepieces.
“Time was always something that was important to me and my family,” he said.
Raised in Miami Beach, Glaser began collecting watches as a teenager and has bought and sold several collections in the decades since.
“Over the years, I’ve sold my collection twice,” he said. “This is the third collection I’ve sold. I buy, I accumulate. They go up. And then each time I bought a new collection, I usually step up. So this collection is the best I’ve had yet.”
He has said the market is moving toward older, more distinctive vintage watches, as younger collectors look for rarer, more individual pieces.
“You want to be able to stand out,” he said in an earlier interview. “The old-car market is the same. A lot of these guys that just sell imported cars right now are in their 70s, and the guys that are buying them are in their 40s and 50s. They don’t want the Porsches from the (1990s). They want the ’60s and ’50s Ferraris and Mercedes.”
Prospective buyers in the Christie’s sale could bid online, by telephone, through absentee bids or in person at Rockefeller Center in New York.
Glaser’s watches aside, the top lot to sell in the auction was a rare Patek Philippe “Red Dot” 3448G with two cases, which sold for about $2.76 million, well above its high estimate. An Audemars Piguet 18K white gold jumping hour watch, circa 1928, sold for about $1 million, according to Christie’s, while a Patek Philippe formerly owned by the late artist Andy Warhol brought $170,180.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach developer’s watch collection sells for $1.65M at Christie’s
Reporting by Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
