Consigning a watch to Phillips: the watch-specific premium

The only auction house on this site that publishes a separate, lower buyer's premium for watches. The seller's commission is not published, as at every auction house, but the buyer's side is unusually favourable to a consignor.

Schedules read 2026-09-22. Platforms change their fees without much notice — check against your own invoice before you rely on a figure.

What it charges a seller

A watch-specific buyer's premium that undercuts Phillips' own general schedule

Watch auctions, New York — first tierNote the threshold: $1,000,000, where the general schedule runs to $2,000,000.	27% of the hammer price up to and including $1,000,000
Watch auctions — second tier	21% above $1,000,000 up to and including $6,000,000
Watch auctions — third tierGeneva and Hong Kong use the same three rates at their own local thresholds.	14.5% above $6,000,000
General sales, for comparisonPhillips' non-watch schedule, at thresholds of $2,000,000 and $8,000,000. Watches are charged less.	29% / 22% / 15%
Priority biddingThe general schedule has a discounted priority-bidding column for live auctions. The watch tables carry no such column.	Not offered on watches
Seller's commissionAs with every auction house covered here, the consignor's terms live in a private agreement.	Not published

Getting paid, and what's required of you

Payout timing: Not published in the buyer's premium schedule, which is the source for this page.
Account: Consignment is arranged through a specialist, as at any auction house. The buyer's premium schedule is the only seller-relevant document Phillips publishes as a rate card.
Authentication: Not established by the sources read for this page.Not addressed in the source read for this page. Auction houses catalogue and research lots through their specialist departments rather than running a published pass-or-fail authentication programme, which is a different thing from the marketplace model.
What it covers: Governed by the Conditions of Sale and Authorship Warranty for the relevant sale, which were not read for this page.

What it's good at

Watches at the level where auction competition can exceed a dealer bid, and where the house's specialist department carries weight.
Consignors comparing auction houses on total cost, because Phillips' watch premium is measurably lower than its own general rate and than the standard schedule at Sotheby's.

What to watch out for

A lower buyer's premium is good for you indirectly, not directly: it leaves more of a bidder's budget available for the hammer. It is not a discount on what you pay.
The seller's commission is unpublished here as everywhere, so the premium tells you only half the economics. Get your own rate in writing.
The watch schedule has no priority-bidding discount, so bidders who use that scheme elsewhere on the site do not get it here.
The first tier runs only to $1,000,000, half the general threshold, so mid-six-figure watches cross into the second band sooner than they would in a general sale.

Phillips does something no other venue on this site does: it publishes a separate buyer's premium for watch auctions, and that schedule is lower than its own general one.

The watch schedule, and the general one

Watch auctions in New York run at 27% up to and including $1,000,000, 21% on the portion above that up to and including $6,000,000, and 14.5% above $6,000,000. Geneva and Hong Kong use the same three rates at their own thresholds.

Phillips' general sales — jewels and everything else — run at 29% / 22% / 15%, with the first threshold at $2,000,000 rather than $1,000,000.

So a watch is charged a lower rate in the first band and reaches the second band sooner. Both effects are deliberate, and both are published.

Why a buyer's premium matters to a seller

You do not pay it. A bidder does. It still shapes your outcome, because a bidder working to a total budget is bidding a hammer price that leaves room for the premium on top. A lower premium leaves more of that budget available to become hammer — which is the part that becomes your proceeds.

That is the whole argument for reading premium schedules as a consignor. It is indirect, and it is real.

What isn't published

The seller's commission, as at every auction house covered here. The Sotheby's page sets out why that matters and how the two houses describe it. The short version applies equally at Phillips: the premium is a rate card, the commission is a negotiation, and only one of them is on the website.

Settlement timing, authentication, and buyer protection are governed by the Conditions of Sale for each individual auction rather than by the premium schedule, and were not read for this page. This page therefore does not claim them.

One detail for bidders you may be competing with

Phillips runs a priority bidding scheme on its general sales that gives qualifying bidders a discounted premium in live auctions. The watch tables carry no such column — the watch rate is the watch rate.

Sources

Phillips Buyer's Premium Rates (effective 10 April 2026) - Phillips publishes a separate and lower buyer's premium schedule for Watch Auctions than for its general sales; under Watch Auctions the New York table gives 27% of the hammer price up to and including US$1000000; 21% on the portion above US$1000000 up to and including US$6000000 and 14.5% on the portion exceeding US$6000000; Geneva Watches gives 27% up to and including CHF1600000; 21% above that up to and including CHF7000000 and 14.5% above CHF7000000; and Hong Kong Watches gives 27% up to and including HK$15000000; 21% above that up to and including HK$60000000 and 14.5% above HK$60000000; the watch tables are headed Standard Buyer's Premium Rates (live and timed online only auctions) and carry no Priority Bidding column; by contrast the general New York table gives standard rates of 29%; 22% and 15% at thresholds of US$2000000 and US$8000000 with Priority Bidding rates of 25%; 20% and 14% for live auctions only; all rates shown exclude local taxes which may be payable on the buyer's premium — retrieved 2026-09-22 · effective 2026-04-10

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