Moving to New York from Florida has made Isabella Proia’s love of the beach a little more challenging, but her other passions for vintage watches and fine food are more than satisfied in the Big Apple.
Isabella’s route to the watch auction world began with a love of history, which she studied at college.
She thought her studies might lead to a career in academia, but found herself drawn into the commercial world.
Her first job in auctions was at Sotheby’s, where she learned the trade in the watches department, and then she moved on to Phillips where she is vice president, head of sale and international specialist at its US watch department.
“The role ended up incorporating some of my favorite parts about being a historian – handling artifacts, lots of research, and teaching people about something that I genuinely find so fascinating,” she muses.
2022 was Isabella’s first year as head of sale at Phillips, hosting two auctions in New York.
A particular highlight was bringing a gold Rolex Daytona Paul Newman El Limoncito to the saleroom, which sold for $2.1 million.
“It’s the most thrilling part of the job, to bring to market a watch that is unanimously agreed to be best in class, and have an entire team and community come together to support something special,” she says.
Isabella now feels ready to step more into the public eye, and hopes to take up the gavel and host her first auction.
“Normally, I prefer to have a more behind-the-scenes role, but as I’ve gone further down this path, it means a lot to me to be able to succeed at something that would normally be considered so far outside of my comfort zone,” she says.