Prominent previous owners and the impact on value - watch versus car
We were amazed when a Porsche 911 S from 1970 was auctioned by RM for USD 1.375 million in Monterey in 2011, just because Steve McQueen once drove it and it was seen for a few minutes in the movie "Le Mans".
According to Classic Data, a "normal" 1970 911 S, of which 1420 were built at the time, would have cost around EUR 60,000 in condition 2 in 2011, or around USD 86,000. We can therefore assume a celebrity factor of around 16, i.e. the buyer was prepared to pay 16 times more for the McQueen 911 than a similar example would have cost. We have previously reported on this topic .
Yesterday, December 12, 2020, the Heuer Monaco 1133, which Steve McQueen wore on his wrist during the filming of "Le Mans", went under the hammer at the Philips "Racing Pulse" watch auction in New York. Normally, such watches are sold for around USD 10,000 to 15,000, which already represents a significant increase in value. However, the Philips people had estimated the McQueen-Monaco at around USD 200,000. The bidders, however, had completely different ideas! The highest bid was USD 1.8 million, and the new owner paid an impressive USD 2,208,000 including buyer's commission: 147.
In comparison, the premiums paid for cars of famous previous owners seem downright modest and, in any case, the equivalent value of over USD 2 million for a hot sports car seems much easier to understand than for a watch. But that is obviously a matter of opinion ...
