Chinese watch collectors have begun to shift their focus toward vintage pieces

It boils down to heritage and nostalgia: 'As the Chinese buyers grow older, antique styles remind them of their fathers and grandfathers,' says Pansy Ku, a watch specialist at Christie's. 'Vintage watches can be quite regal. After all timepieces were a pastime of some Chinese emperors.'

Indeed. Each season, Christie's presents a range of 19th-century timepieces made especially for the Chinese market. Not surprisingly, these tend to be popular with Chinese buyers. In 2005, Christies brought to auction a circa-1820 18-karat gold, enamel and pearl Piguet & Meylan watch. Stamped FO for its Geneva maker, Frères Oltramare, the watch carried a top estimate of 550,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$70,700). It sold for just over HK$3 million. Three years later, a pair of circa-1820 gold, enamel and seed pearl Piguet & Meylan pocket watches went on the block at Christie's. They reputedly were a gift from the English royal family to the Emperor Qianlong. The estimate: HK$1.2 million to HK$2 million. The sales price: HK$2,900,000.

This year, at the auction house's Dec. 2 auction of watches, five 19th-century timepieces made especially for the Chinese market are coming up for sale. One, a circa-1877 gold-and-enamel pocket watch depicting three angels, is estimated to sell for between HK$320,000 and HK$480,000.