Go inside Sotheby’s watch auctions with Geoff Hess, Global Head of Watches, and Richard Lopez, Senior Specialist, Watches North & Latin America. They reveal how Sotheby’s evaluates important timepieces, what makes a watch truly auction-worthy, and how rarity, provenance, condition, originality, scholarship, market psychology, and trust shape the result when the hammer falls.

In this episode of The Luxury Prescription Show, Dr. Vinay Chopra reflects on his first Sotheby’s auction experience at the Tom Brady G.O.A.T. Collection and asks what celebrity provenance genuinely adds to a Patek Philippe, Rolex, IWC, or another important watch and whether the watch must always stand on its own first.

Geoff and Richard explain how specialists guide collectors through the emotional pressure of an auction, how they determine when a client should continue bidding and when it is time to walk away, and why not every excellent watch necessarily belongs in a major auction room.
The conversation also explores the evolution of the Patek Philippe Nautilus and Aquanaut market, the growing influence of independent watchmakers, the arrival of younger collectors, and the role that community plays in keeping the watch world from becoming purely transactional.

We also go behind the scenes of major Sotheby’s moments, including the Tom Brady G.O.A.T. Collection, the landmark Cartier presentation in Hong Kong, and the record-setting sale of a Stegosaurus fossil for approximately $44 million.

In this episode:
- What makes a watch worthy of a Sotheby’s auction
- The biggest mistakes first-time auction bidders make
- When a specialist should encourage a collector and when to tell them to stop
- The market for Patek Philippe Nautilus and Aquanaut models
- What a $44 million dinosaur can teach us about collector conviction
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GUESTS

Geoff Hess
Global Head of Watches, Sotheby’s

Richard Lopez
Senior Specialist, Watches North & Latin America, Sotheby’s

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CHAPTERS

1:01 Meet Geoff Hess and Richard Lopez
10:25 Patek Philippe Nautilus and Aquanaut
13:35 Independent Watchmakers and Younger Collectors
22:56 What Makes a Watch Audtion-Worthy?
27:43 Dr. Chopra's First Auction: The Tom Brady G.O.A.T. Collection
31:02 What Celebrity Provenance Really Adds
34:19 The Record-Setting Triceratops Auction
35:35 When a Specialist Tells a Collector to Stop Bidding
36:33 The Landmark Cartier Sale in Hong Kong
42:56 Rarity, Provenance, Condition, and Originality
43:42 Rolliefest and the Importance of Community

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