Watches power Phillips to a 60% jump in spring auction sales
Timepieces drove nearly half of Phillips's $507 million spring total, underscoring collectors' continued appetite for watches even as broader luxury spending cools.
Phillips has reported $507 million in auction sales for the spring 2026 season, a 60% increase year on year, according to Robb Report. Watches accounted for roughly half of the total, generating $235.5 million, reaffirming timepieces as the auction house's most reliable growth engine even as fine art and jewellery markets have been more volatile.
The scale of the jump is notable at a moment when discretionary luxury spending has been patchy across categories. Watch collecting has proven relatively resilient because it sits at the intersection of investment, provenance and status. Rare and vintage pieces, especially from brands with strong secondary-market demand, continue to draw bidders regardless of wider consumer sentiment. Phillips has built its reputation on watches specifically, and this result reinforces the wisdom of that specialisation relative to rivals who spread bids more thinly across categories.
The read for the wider industry is that scarcity and heritage still command premiums, and that auction houses able to source exceptional single pieces or estates can outperform general market conditions. It also raises the competitive stakes for Sotheby's and Christie's, both of which run their own watch departments and will be watched closely for how their own spring results compare.
What to watch: whether Phillips can sustain this momentum into the autumn season, and whether other categories, notably jewellery and design, can be pushed to replicate the watch department's growth trajectory.
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