Quality Is Found Through the Past

They All Wore Watches

"Mountain Climbers, astronauts, deep sea divers and fire men. They all had the kind of adventurous profession that you really wanted to have yourself as a 9-year-old boy, and then they all wore a wristwatch." Kristian Haagen has no doubt about when his interest in watches was ignited. It was when he leafed through the magazine National Geographic and as a young boy discovered the ads of various roughnecks in extreme work situations, where their personal watch was part of their identity and story.

With a degree in advertising from Great Britain, Kristian Haagen has a great understanding of what constitutes a good story, and what such a story means for the auction business in general and for wristwatches in particular. "My own way into the auction world was driven by sheer passion and personal interest. I became an active collector of wristwatches in the mid-nineties. It happened just about the time when the Internet made it possible to share interests with a far wider range of people worldwide. Suddenly the group of collectors interested in things like older Rolex or Panerai watches seemed quite large. The stories about the watches were also something you could share with these other collectors, and the telling of these stories is very important for the trade on the auction market."

The Stories of Owners

"The provenance of an item can both be of personal significance, but also have a broader historical dimension. Last year we for instance sold a watch, which had been worn by Ole Geisler, who was member of the Danish resistance during WW2. The previous owner can also be a more personal kind of hero. I own a watch myself that has been worn by my own idol Jan Stage, a Danish journalist who was especially known for his coverage of Latin America as a foreign correspondent for the Danish newspapers Information and Politiken."

Kristian began writing down the different stories he learned about wristwatches. These were initially developed into newspaper articles, and in 2002 Kristian published the first of six books on the subject. Kristian’s words about the watches caught the eye of Bruun Rasmussen, and he was brought in as an expert in wristwatches in 2008, while the lectures and writing assignments continued, and have only increased as the general interest in watches has also grown.

Packed Salerooms and Bidding Wars

"Everything I do, has to do with wristwatches. Therefore it is also great to see that the interest in watches is growing at the moment, where our recent auctions at Bruun Rasmussen have completely sold out on auction lots. The atmosphere in the saleroom has each time been electric, as the bidders have stared each other down in the fight over the coveted watches. It is a wonderful show, with passion and friendly aggression in the bidding battle."

Kristian is, however, also strongly in favour of an increased focus on the online auctions at Bruun Rasmussen. "We have recently focused on diverting some of the watches from the traditional auctions to the online auctions. The Internet has established some fantastic display venues for the auction business to promote these beautiful watches. And we have reached a level in the number of wristwatches up for auction that we are able to present interesting auction lots for both the collector of exclusive watchesas well as for first time buyers who may discover a wristwatch that they simply have to own."

The Added Emotional Value

"Because the purchase of an item at auction is also very much about – when it comes to the classics – a personal dream of the past, which can finally be settled. This emotional value of a wristwatch may seem almost romantic in the capital attributed to the past. But what we often find at auctions are items that we have encountered earlier in our lives. Suddenly the object, which we remember seeing before, and perhaps even wanted badly, is now available again in front of us. In this way, it is not always the mechanical or functional aspect, that controls the value, but something that lies outside the watch itself. Memories flare up when you discover a particular watch that reminds you of a moment from childhood – a warm summer day, an exciting road trip or a page from an old magazine like National Geographic. In those moments it's hard not to raise your hand with a bid."