A friend of mine was auctioning a piece recently. Bids started coming in and approached his reserve. He told the auction house to lift the reserve and close the deal. He was ready to sell.

They ignored him. Over and over.

Finally, one of the guys at the auction house told him the truth: they'd been bidding up the auction themselves. They didn't want to lift the reserve because they didn't want to win their own auction.

This is happening every day in watches and exotic cars.

At the same time, jewelers are also manipulating prices on gold watches today because many expect gold to climb in the second half of 2026. Hublot and Ulysse Nardin gold models are their prime targets, which is why prices are increasing across nearly all gold pieces.

During COVID, Patek insiders were sent to auctions to bid up 5990s to $400k when they could have just bought them for $250k. It didn't make sense then. It doesn't make sense now. But it's happening again.

The "market price" you see isn't always the market. Sometimes it's manufactured.

Know your sources. Know your sellers. And don't let an index tell you what something's worth.