Interview with Sarah Ferguson from Lyon & Turnbull

We've all been there; we have watches in our watch box that just sit there and don't get worn. We contemplate holding on to them a bit longer or give them up to a new home. But where do you start when it comes to selling your watches? 

How it all Began

I’m Sarah Fergusson, I live in the West of Scotland, near Glasgow and I’m Head of Watches at Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers! I went to the University of Glasgow and studied History of Art at undergrad (MA Hons) then did two post grads (big financial crash of 2008 meant there were no jobs so I kept studying!) First post grad was an M.Litt and next was an MSc, in Collecting & Collections and Museum Studies respectively. All my university dissertations focussed on jewelry history, my aim at that point was to be a jewelry specialist at an auction house.

I got my first jewelry specialist job and they told me I would have to cover watches and coins too. I knew nothing about the two categories and wasn’t interested in either. After about 5 years doing the job I began to really become interested in watches as a few made quite large sums of money - unexpectedly! That got me into the history of brands and watchmaking in general and I haven’t looked back. 

Collection

I think one of my first watches was a Lion King one that I got when I was little, I don’t have it but have a few others from before I was into watches like a Rip Curl surf watch and a Fossil one

All but two of my watches are vintage, I love old things in general, and most cost under $100. My favoite is a gold-cased Chronograph Suisse from the 1940s. I love mid to late 20th century chronographs overall, they’re my favorite.

Under Appreciated Aspects of the Hobby

Somethings that I think go under the radar, I would say vintage watches in general. Vintage watches that are more affordable and seem under appreciated really. You can pick up 1960s Omega watches for around $400. For modern ones, companies like Zodiac really appeal to me. 

I love the Zodiac x Liberty watch but really any of there pieces available at the moment are great. I also love their vintage watches, not a surprise I guess.

Automatic vs. Quartz and the Community

Automatic watches are my go to, really though I am biased as the older watches I love are all manual wind/automatic. There’s nothing wrong with quartz - most of my watches either don’t work at all or don’t keep time, if they were quartz I wouldn’t have that issue. 

For me, the community is on Instagram and I follow people who have collections that I love. I like that there’s a massive variety out there too, people with watches worth more than houses, and people with watches that cost very little. Everyone is so kind too, haven’t found any community so much like that before.

Working at an Auction

My job is great fun. My clients are private people with watches they have maybe inherited or don’t wear any more. They get in touch and I give them an auction estimate based on recent sales of similar items at auction. We can set a reserve - the least we would sell the watch for - and off it goes to auction. Most of our bidders are online now but people do come along to auctions sometimes, depending on restrictions at that time. Charges are then taken from the hammer price (selling price) and the remainder goes to the client. 

I like the whole process, being part of giving the watch a new step in its life. Sale day is good of course, it’s lovely when something soars past estimate and I get to call the client to give them the good news. There's nothing like that feeling when you had an inkling a watch would do well but it exceeds all expectations! 

I’ve been in my current job for about 15 months and it was a few months ago, we sold a 6263 Daytona in excellent condition. It was just so nice to hear people saying how beautiful it was and how they all would have loved to own it!

There are so many gorgeous pieces that we sell that I would love to buy myself! However, we can’t buy watches before they’ve been in an auction. If they do not sell, it’s up to the vendor what happens next. We can ‘re-offer’ a watch in a later sale but we reduce the guide price and reserve. If I want something I’ll compete along with all the other bidders! 

As of what is next on my watch wish list, I don't know yet! Never say never. I am still on the vintage path, I would love a Heuer though…

Thank you for reading watch fam! If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below! If you have anyone in mind for the next interview, please leave a comment!

Have a great one!