VO Vintage, the vintage and rare watch extravaganza, has opened and will be running alongside VOJ20 Vicenzaoro at the Vicenza Expo Centre.
VO Vintage is a three-day event which provides the opportunity for watch collectors to engage with many of the world’s greatest horological experts and hunt for or admire the rarest and most-desired timepieces in the world.
Throughout the world, vintage and rare watches are big business and can command staggering sums of money.
If any proof was needed, the last Antiquorum Auction in Italy, which was coincidentally held at Vicenzaoro back in January 1992, saw a Rolex auctioned for 50 million Lire (a tad under USD 30,000). That very same timepiece went under the hammer at a recent Phillips Auction and achieved a staggering USD 748,000.
Michele Mengoli, a watch journalist and project advisor, explained, “VO Vintage is the new marketplace entirely dedicated to vintage watches and jewellery, on stage until 20th January and already featuring “the best of” at its first edition with 30 exhibitors and the most valuable and unique items from their collections.”
The vintage jewellery and watch collecting sector has experienced massive growth in the last thirty years, confirming its place as a haven asset.
Today, the Italian vintage watch collecting market is worth more than 1 billion Euros.
Although solidly rooted in tradition, it knows how to shape its communication strategies towards an ever-younger and more dynamic public.
What might surprise many is the best place for dealing in vintage jewellery is Instagram, at least for making the first contact between buyers and sellers.
VO Vintage will be entertaining watch-and-clock fans at the Vicenza show until 20th January (VOJ20 will close on the 22nd). By running alongside VOJ, the event gathers together the whole of the gold and jewellery community.
Although a great deal of business will be discussed at VO Vintage, it is also a place where attendees can relax and experience beauty, elegance, art and culture.
Timepiece Experts at VO Vintage
In addition to the unique and rare timepieces on-show, expert guests will be in attendance, including Sandro Fratini, regarded by many as the most significant watch collector in the world.
Joining Sandro will be horological experts, professor Ugo Pancani, a teacher at the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and the editor of L’Orologio, Dody Giussani.
Assorologi will be in attendance with its President Mario Persico, who’s been battling for years on the topics of intellectual property, forgeries and the trading of “fake goods”.
The prestigious AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants), which groups together the greatest independent master watchmakers from all over the world, will also be there. As will Italy’s most prestigious watch enthusiasts forum, Orologi & Passioni, with one of its founders, Bruno Bergamaschi.
Read more articles on vintage and modern timepieces in our dedicated section here.
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