This Watch Just Went to Space. What’s That Worth?

Sotheby’s is aware of the price-boosting results of area. The public sale home has ridden auctions of well-traveled Omega Speedmasters (famously, the official watch of NASA) and former astronauts’ watches to large gross sales. Area, famously, is now a playground for the superrich—and, presumably, additionally the marginally much less wealthy, who can’t entrance the $55 million it prices to go on a personal mission however may accept a watch that did. “Greater than fifty years have handed for the reason that first profitable human spaceflight and in that point solely a choose few have earned the privilege of seeing Earth from outer area, making the feat of ‘amassing Area’ one of many quickest rising sectors in our market,” mentioned Janet Tham, Sotheby’s watch specialist. Consequently, watch manufacturers are desirous to make it so area. Along with Omega and this Jacob & Co., IWC additionally designed items for the Inspiration4 mission that made it to orbit in September of final yr.

Jacob & Co.’s Astronomia line was all the time destined for the outer bounds of earth’s ambiance. The watch, which Jacob & Co. makes in rose and white gold or dressed up with diamonds, encompasses a space-like view: a moon-shaped diamond and an orb painted just like the earth rotate across the Astronomia’s dial.

Regardless of the on-theme design and its newfound provenance, the watch’s worth at public sale stayed comparatively earthbound. Sotheby’s stories that over 20 bidders had been in on the watch, with a closing sale value of $441,000. In a vacuum, that’s a ton of cash—although it’s value stating that Jacob & Co. watches eclipse that determine commonly. In 2015, when Jacob & Co. launched a rose-gold model of the Astronomia, it set the retail value at about $548,000, in line with ABlogtoWatch.

So, what offers? It might merely be a case of dangerous timing—costs for even essentially the most coveted watches are presently flagging. Or this may very well be an even bigger declaration about what collectors need out of their public sale items. With regards to watches, perhaps not all area missions are created equal.