Lesotho I diamond set in a ring by Harry Winston, Sotheby's November 2008 auction in Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - This is one of the big weeks in the year for Geneva’s international art market, with auctions taking place at lakefront hotels in Geneva for top-end watches, jewelry and antiques. The world will be watching closely to see if the art market here reflects the economic downturn. Wednesday , a Francis Bacon self-portrait that was expected to sell for $40 million was pulled from a Christie’s auction in New York when it reached only $27.4m, to gasps from the crowd.

In May 2008 a Bacon painting sold for $80m, a record for the artist’s work.

Sotheby’s in Geneva is holding its annual “important watches” auction 16 November at the Beau Rivage hotel in Geneva, with two Patek Philippe watches expected to fetch up to CHF2 million and 1.8m.

Three days later, 19 November, Sotheby’s fine jewels auction takes place, a major event in the Geneva calendar, featuring two extraordinary diamonds, one a rare fancy deep blue diamond estimated to go for as high as CHF10 million. The other is the Lesotho I diamond mounted as a ring by Harry Winston, estimated at CHF3.36-5.60m.

rare fancy blue diamond, Sotheby's November 2008, Geneva

At the November 2007 sales a world record was set for the highest per carat price for a white diamond when Georges Marciano, founder of Guess jeans, bought it for his 12-year-old daughter Chloe. That auction had a large number of Russians bidding but it remains to be seen if fewer of them will take part this year, given the world economic downturn which has hurt many wealthy Russians. At the five-star Carlton Hotel in St Moritz a week ago the managing director told GenevaLunch that the hotel is seeing cancellations every day from Russians, who give as their reason sudden financial problems.

A third major auction takes place at the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Geneva this weekend, 15-16 November, with more than 650 watches under the gavel at Antiquorum’s sale.

Sotheby’s is exhibiting the auction watches Friday and Saturday, 14-15 November and the fine jewels Saturday 15 November to Tuesday 18 November: the displays, at the Beau-Rivage Hotel in Geneva, are open to the public.

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