Last week, Phillips held their latest replica watch auction in Hong Kong: the Phillips Hong Kong Watch Auction XI. As per usual, there were some very neat, rare, and illustrious lots that collectors would salivate over – eager to add such fine timepieces to their collections. While the globe may have taken a beating this year from the pandemic, it is clear that top-tier collectors and buyers are still eager to acquire fine watches for top-dollar hammer prices. This auction, however, had an unexpected assembly of new watches.
Each of the new colours within the 2020 Stella-inspired 36 mm AAA Rolex Oyster Perpetual replica watches were up for grabs – a fact that has invoked the ire of many on our, and Rolex’s, social media platforms. It is rather sad that consumers, myself included, can’t find one of these watches at retail and yet all of them were together in one auction for purchase.
This inaccessibility has been the elephant in the room of the watch industry for a couple of years, but never like what we’ve seen in 2020, and we had to cover it in more detail in the 2020 edition of NOW Magazine (you can buy it and read the 3000 word feature here). Will Rolex increase supply so normal people can buy their watches? Is there a strategy behind the shortage? We dig deeper into the issue.
Interestingly in this Phillips auction, however, the models we thought would do best were not necessarily in line with the final results. Let’s take a look at how these new entry fake Rolex models fared in their auction debut and see which colour dials commanded the highest premiums over retail (the retail price for all models is $7850 AUD). But before we do, please enjoy this stunning illustration from the magazine by Tamsin Ainslie, which sums things up rather well.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36 “Green”
Our front-runner shockingly finished dead last. If the Kermit, Cermit, and recently discontinued Hulk have taught us anything it’s that green dial perfect fake Rolex watches typically do really well. Even the gold green dial Daytona is faring very well on the open market. But at this particular moment and auction, buyers shunned the green lacquer dial. Is it possibly because the prospective buyers already had enough green Rolex within their collections? Has it hit its saturation point? To be fair, it may have gotten the least premium over retail in this auction within the group of OP 36 models, but it still went well over retail. Final Hammer Price in AUD: $15,329
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36 “Turquoise”
Another wrench in our initial predictions, the UK replica watches for sale we felt would stand beside green as the strongest seller was the turquoise. Also referred to as the “Tiffany Blue”, we really thought this was in the running to take the highest premium. This year has undoubtedly been the year of the blue dial, and the Tiffany shade of blue has always attracted the eyes of collectors of all genders. Are the green and turquoise possibly the most produced of the five? Do auction buyers not want it because they already have it? I struggle to find a reason why the turquoise copy Rolex with steel bracelet did not attract the most attention here. At the same time, gotta give props to the buyers who shook up the norm – defying expectations and becoming more playful with their collection adds. Final Hammer Price in AUD: $16,424