Phillips’ Spring Auction Season Reaches $507 Million as Watches Drive Record Results
Phillips said Tuesday that its spring auction season generated $507 million in sales, a 60 percent increase from the same period last year, with watches supplying nearly half of the total. The house’s results point to a market that is still highly selective, but willing to pay decisively for the right objects — especially in the watch category, where Phillips has built unusual momentum.
Watches accounted for $235.5 million of the season’s total. Phillips said its Geneva sale was the most successful watch auction it has ever held, while its New York and Hong Kong watch sales also set regional records. The company’s season-wide hammer-price-to-low-estimate index reached 165 percent, and average lot value rose 55 percent year over year. Phillips also maintained a 90 percent sell-through rate by lot, with evening sales reaching 94 percent by lot and 99 percent by value.
Chief Executive Martin Wilson said in a statement that the results reflected both market strength and the company’s progress over the past year, citing exceptional property, global participation, and sustained demand. The numbers arrive as the broader auction market has become more discriminating, with collectors competing most aggressively for museum-quality works and showing less patience for weaker material.
Several consignments helped lift the season. Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr.’s collection realized $18 million, while property from the estate of Tina Hills brought in $14.2 million across multiple categories, with additional works still scheduled to come to auction later this year. Together, those collections accounted for only a portion of the roughly $188 million increase in sales over last spring.
The top fine-art lot was Andy Warhol’s Sixteen Jackies, which sold for $16.2 million during Phillips’ New York Modern & Contemporary Art evening sale. In watches, F.P. Journe’s Chronomètre à Résonance “Souscription No. 007” brought $13.9 million in New York, and a rare Patek Philippe Ref. 2499 sold for HK$80.4 million ($10.3 million) in Hong Kong.
Phillips also said its buyer base continued to broaden. First-time buyers made up 40 percent of purchasers this spring, up from 36 percent a year earlier. Millennials and Gen Z collectors represented one-third of bidders and buyers, compared with 25 percent in the same period last year. Nearly 70 percent of works sold online, up from 62 percent in spring 2025, suggesting that the house’s strongest growth is coming from both category expansion and a changing generation of buyers.
