Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi auction features rare watches, jewelry and luxury objects

A Richard Mille “Rafael Nadal” RM35-03 watch leads Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Edit: Materiality, a cross-category online sale spanning automobiles, watches, handbags, jewelry and high-performance bikes with a combined estimate of $6.6 million to $9.7 million. The catalog shows 28 lots, and the auction brings together more than 30 highly coveted objects and closes lot by lot at one-minute intervals beginning July 10 at 5:00 p.m. Abu Dhabi time.

The edit focuses on rare and precious materials, including diamonds, gold, platinum, titanium, tantalum, carbon fibre and hardstone coral. Five Hemmerle creations are being offered for sale for the first time. The jewelry section also includes a 200-carat Paraiba tourmaline from Mozambique, plus necklaces by Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels.

The first lot in the catalog is the Richard Mille “Rafael Nadal” RM35-03 in white quartz TPT, a skeletonized wristwatch with an adjustable rotor, estimated at $350,000 to $600,000. Other watches include an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic from around 2019, a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona in platinum with an Arabic dial from around 2021, and multiple platinum and tantalum pieces by F.P. Journe.

The sale followed Sotheby’s Collectors’ Week in December 2025, which brought in more than $133 million and was the largest debut for any new market in Sotheby’s history. RM Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi collector-car auction alone grossed $85,064,125 and became the most successful collector car auction ever held in the Middle East. Josh Pullan, Sotheby’s global head of luxury division, called the recent Abu Dhabi push a source of “remarkable momentum.”