Man in Britain sues Sotheby’s Hong Kong after it was about to auction ‘stolen’ rare Philippe Dufour Simplicity watch
- Christian Iwasko says he bought watch for US$208,000 from Contrapante in New York in September 2016
- Iwasko is suing Sotheby’s Hong Kong and Qiming Lyu, a Nanjing resident who allegedly consigned watch to auction house for its immediate return
A man in Britain is taking a Hong Kong auction house to court over a rare watch that was about to go under the hammer – which he said was stolen from his Kent home.
Christian Iwasko said in a writ filed to High Court on Monday he had bought the boutique Philippe Dufour Simplicity watch – bearing the unique registration number 103 – from Contrapante in New York in September 2016 for US$208,000 (HK$1.6 million).
He lost the watch – among other valuables – when his home in Sevenoaks was burgled. It was unclear from the writ when exactly the burglary took place.
The theft was immediately reported, but Iwasko’s lawyers said local police had yet to arrest anyone for the crime and the watch had not been found.
Iwasko found out in March that Sotheby’s Hong Kong was about to sell a Simplicity watch, under Lot 2299, at the Important Watches auction on April 3. Dufour had made only 200 Simplicity watches since the model was introduced in 2000.
The auction house described the watch as “a platinum wristwatch with two-tone dial” marked with the unique registration number 108.
