BUSINESS BRIEFING: Modern auctioneering from 225-year old Bonhams

Jonathan Darracott, global head of watches at Bonhams, has overseen dramatic growth in prestigious watch sales over the past few years, and sees no sign of it slowing down Bonhams is roughly neck-and-neck with Sotheby's when it comes to the annual value of sales through its watch auctions Bonhams would love to be setting world records, as Phillips did last year with the sale of Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona for over $17 million, but Mr Darracott insists that these eye-watering deals are not always the most lucrative for an auction house because of the marketing cost and horse trading to get the rarest watches onto the books.

In an era when there are so many ways for watch enthusiasts, collectors or professional dealers to sell their watches, auction houses continue to thrive and grow The company does not buy the watches that it sells at auction, but it does stake its reputation on getting pre-sale estimates right, and it does invest heavily in marketing to make sure owners keep getting the best prices for the watches they sell For now, Bonhams will focus on its day job of encouraging private owners to trust the auction house with the sale of their precious timepieces, and market those watches to a growing global audience.

"Unlike some of the other auction houses, we predominately deal in watches from private sellers The things that we sell, even at the top end, are from individuals rather than dealers or brokers That often means it is fresh to the market, rather than something that is being resold several times.

That is probably where we differ the most from Christies, Sotheby's and Phillips Very little of our trade is business to business The auction world has players who work with items coming in from dealers or runners who specifically go out and look for pieces for auction," Mr Darracott describes. Source