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Pharrell Williams’ Joopiter Hires Former Bonhams Exec to Head New Watch Division
Nate Borgelt will lead the digital auction house and content platform’s new division as head of watches.
Nate Borgelt is the head of watches for Joopiter’s new standalone watches division.
New York—Joopiter, the digital auction house and content platform founded by Pharrell Williams, has added a new standalone watches division.
Nate Borgelt was named head of watches.
In his new role, he will lead the platform’s horological category through standalone and multi-consignor auctions.
Borgelt’s specialization ranges from mid-century sports watches to early 20th-century wristwatches and desk clocks, and the full arc of horological history from antique American pocket watches to today’s independent makers.
He brings two decades of experience as a watch specialist and auction-industry leader to the role, said Joopiter.
Most recently, Borgelt served as Bonhams’ head of watches for the Americas, where he oversaw the division’s sales and consignments throughout the region.
Prior to Bonhams, he was Sotheby’s senior international specialist of watches and head of sale for the New York watch department, where he played a pivotal role in landmark auctions, including the house’s first watch thematic sale in New York in more than a decade and the 2014 sale of Henry Graves Jr.’s Supercomplication, the most expensive watch ever sold at the time, for $24 million.
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Nate Borgelt was named head of watches.
In his new role, he will lead the platform’s horological category through standalone and multi-consignor auctions.
Borgelt’s specialization ranges from mid-century sports watches to early 20th-century wristwatches and desk clocks, and the full arc of horological history from antique American pocket watches to today’s independent makers.
He brings two decades of experience as a watch specialist and auction-industry leader to the role, said Joopiter.
Most recently, Borgelt served as Bonhams’ head of watches for the Americas, where he oversaw the division’s sales and consignments throughout the region.
Prior to Bonhams, he was Sotheby’s senior international specialist of watches and head of sale for the New York watch department, where he played a pivotal role in landmark auctions, including the house’s first watch thematic sale in New York in more than a decade and the 2014 sale of Henry Graves Jr.’s Supercomplication, the most expensive watch ever sold at the time, for $24 million.
Joopiter chose to add a standalone watch division to the platform because of its success with standalone watch auctions and watch sales since the platform was founded in 2022.
Key sales include a Richard Mille RM 65-01 Split-Seconds Chrono signed by Pharrell Williams, which achieved $375,000, and a Patek Philippe Celestial Ref. 6104R-001 that sold for $387,500.
Joopiter’s first dedicated watch sale “The Art of Time,” occurred last year and featured pieces from the 1930s to the 2020s from Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Bueche-Girod, Cartier, Ebel, Franck Muller, Gérald Genta, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Ōtsuka Lōtec, Patek Phillipe, and Rolex.
Joopiter said its digitally native platform reflects how the modern watch market actually works. Instead of the formality of a traditional showroom, it provides the access, transparency, and community that today’s buyers expect, it said.
It is a global digital-first commerce and content platform that leads with editorial storytelling, cultural context, and direct collector engagement.
The new standalone division will begin launching watch auctions in the coming months, said Joopiter.
Visit Joopiter’s website for more information about the watches division.
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