Sotheby’s Returns to the Gulf: A New Era for Art, Luxury and High – Value Collecting

The 31.86-carat 'Desert Rose' fancy vivid orangy-pink diamond. Estimate: $5–$7 million | Sotheby's

As the region enters one of its busiest cultural weeks of the year, Sotheby’s brings a curated constellation of auctions, exhibitions, masterclasses and private sales to Abu Dhabi – a program designed not around spectacle, but around the quiet gravity of exceptional objects and the global collectors drawn to them.

From 2 to 5 December, The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort will host a series of Sotheby’s events coinciding with a major regional gathering – the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit, Abu Dhabi Finance Week and Bitcoin MENA. The intention is clear: to bring together collectors, private clients, and cultural voices from across the world during a moment when the region becomes an international focal point.

The program follows Sotheby’s inaugural sale in Saudi Arabia earlier this year – a landmark moment for the Kingdom – and reflects a broader regional momentum in which luxury, art and culture occupy an increasingly visible place on the global stage. In Abu Dhabi, the events unfold on Saadiyat Island, home to major institutions including Louvre Abu Dhabi and the upcoming Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum. The emphasis, however, remains neutral and precise: Sotheby’s is expanding its presence across key Middle Eastern capitals, each contributing its own voice to  a wider cultural narrative.

The headlining work of the Abu Dhabi program is The Desert Rose: a 31.86 – carat fancy vivid orangy – pink diamond, the largest of its kind ever grated. First presented at Sotheby’s ‘Beyond: The World’s Rarest Diamonds’ exhibition in April, the pear-shaped stone now makes its auction debut with an estimate of $5-7 million. Its presence sets the tone for the December sale: restrained rarity rather than volume, and the kind of natural phenomenon that stands at the intersection of geology, beauty and private collecting.

The Star Caliber 2000 in four precious metals. Estimate: more than $10 million | Sotheby's

Nearby, a second highlight unfolds in an entirely different language of excellence.

Sotheby’s will present the complete four – watch set of Patek Philippe’s Star Caliber 2000 – a technical summit in the history of watchmaking. Created to mark the new millennium, each piece contains 21 complications, 1.118 components and six patented innovations, including mechanisms for the chime, sunset and sunrise display, running equation of time and rapid calendar correction. Their Westminster Chimes echo the sound of London’s Big Ben with two identical tones in perfect succession, a feat unmatched by any other timepiece. Estimated at more than $10 million, the set represents the second-highest pre-sale estimate for a watch in auction history and remains one of the most intricate demonstrations of horological mastery ever produced.

It is this dialogue between rarity and precision that defines the tone of the week.

The Birkin Voyageur owned by Jane Birkin between 2003 and 2007. Estimate: $230,000-$430,000

A more intimate highlight arrives in the form of Hermès “Le Birkin Voyageur”, one of the four Birkin handbags personally owned by Jane Birkin (1946–2023).Gifted to her by Hermès, the piece carries inside a handwritten message that gives it its name — a detail that transforms the bag from an object of design into a fragment of cultural history. Its estimate, $230,000 to $430,000, follows the record-breaking sale of Birkin’s original prototype at Sotheby’s Paris in July, which reached $10.1 million and became the most valuable handbag ever sold at auction.For collectors, such a piece is not simply an accessory; it is a chapter of a personal mythology that helped shape modern luxury.

Timepieces continue with the Rolex Oyster “Albino” Daytona — reference 6263 — produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Distinguished by its monochromatic silver dial and matching subdials, it departs from the classic Daytona contrast and carries an estimate of $500,000 to $1 million.

The automotive offerings expand the narrative into engineering culture.RM Sotheby’s and McLaren Racing will jointly present the Triple Crown Project: three future competition cars representing McLaren’s racing portfolio — a 2026 Formula 1 car, a 2027 World Endurance Championship racer and a 2026 INDYCAR entry. To be offered during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 5 December, the trio comes with VIP race access, factory visits and future purchase privileges. Additional standout automobiles include a 2017 Pagani Zonda 760 Riviera, estimated at $9.5–10.5 million, and a 2010 Aston Martin One-77, estimated at $1.3–1.6 million.

Real estate completes the program with two high-value lots:a six-bedroom waterfront estate in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, listed at €35 million, and a €19 million investment in a Zaha Hadid-designed apartment-hotel project in Graz, comprising 21 serviced residences and a 21,000-square-foot penthouse.

Collectors’ Week is organized in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which has taken a minority equity stake in Sotheby’s — a collaboration that reflects the region’s growing participation in the global market for art, luxury and cultural investment.

The message of the week is measured, not declarative:a regional landscape in motion, an expanding ecosystem of collectors, and a series of exceptional objects brought together not for spectacle, but for significance.

And in this moment, the Gulf stands not as a single hub, but as a constellation — each capital adding its own voice to the world of art, luxury and high-value collecting.