Christie’s snatched the title of selling the most expensive Cartier wristwatch at auction, with a rare 18K gold Cartier “London Crash” from 1990 that fetched $2,024,956 at Christie’s Geneva Important Watches sale in May. The watch, with case no. 80298 and London hallmarks for 1990, beat out the previous record holder, another Cartier Crash, this one from 1987, that sold for about $1.99 million through Sotheby’s in Hong Kong just a few weeks before.
“Cartier Crash wristwatches that were made before 1991 are extremely special, and the market has changed,” Remi Guillemin, Christie’s head of watches for the Americas and Europe, says in an interview following the sale. “The market really appreciates today things that are artisanal, and this is what this watch is really about,” he adds.
