Aventi have long been an intriguing brand in niche watchmaking circles. They produce sapphire cased watches for accessible prices – in the region of £8,000 – £12,000 in comparison to the majority of sapphire watches that are £100,000 and above. Their value is so incredible we included them in our guide of the best sapphire watches around.
However, over the last four months they’ve hit the spotlight like never before and are becoming a name recognised from the most cursory watch enthusiast to the most dedicated collector. The proof is in Aventi’s recent auction performance.
The Aventi A15 Wraith (RRP £21,700) that sold for £56,800 at Sotheby’s Fine Watches auction.
At Sotheby’s Fine Watches auction last month, one of the last major auctions of 2022, an Aventi Wraith A15-01 Saphite™ Paraiba went under the hammer. With a retail price of £21,700 (all prices converted to GBP), auctioneers gave it an estimate of £16,400 – £32,800, more or less expecting it to break even or perform slightly above original sale price. Instead, the groundswell of interest in Aventi led to it selling for £56,800, more than triple the low estimate.
This signals that there is a serious interest in Aventi watches among collectors who don’t just appreciate their value, but believe that they will retain or gain value over time. Plus, by reaching the £50k threshold, Aventi join a rarefied group of watches such as the Patek Philippe Nautilus, with a Ref. 3800/1 selling for a similar sum at the Sotheby’s auction. While interest in major watch brands is by no means diminishing, smaller names are closing the gap and pulling themselves up to the same level.
Aventi A11 Pure Sapphire Black Dial
Of course, Aventi’s auction performance provides only a single data point and we’ll have to see if their watches remain consistent over an extended period before we start to mention them in the same breath as prestige brands. But they’re on their way, especially when you look at the pre-owned market and see that on the whole, Aventi prices are up by approximately £1,000 – £10,000 compared to retail.
That leaves the question, what is it about their watches that is contributing to their success? Obviously, price is a part of the equation but it’s not the whole story. A large part of their growing popularity is their unique case design and advanced materials.
The polygonal design emphasises the beauty of sapphire and saphite (an innovative material with a lower refractive index than sapphire that gives it less distortion while also being able to take any colour, such as the tourmaline blue of the Paraiba), allowing the wearer to admire the technology housed inside from every angle. The overall shape is a kind of elongated pentagon with a wedge-like appearance, like nothing else out there.
Aventi is a name you should expect to hear a lot more of in the future. For now, they’re continuing to put in the work and it’s paying off. Their auction performance results speak for themselves: collectors think they’re heading in the right direction.
