Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

The Japanese battery-powered watches once viewed as cheap and lacking soul are now being taken seriously at auction despite collector snobbery

Perhaps the quirkiest of all of the many Omega Speedmaster models is this one with a cushion shape or ‘TV’ dial.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Speedmaster Professional as a space exploration tool in 1997, Omega created the Missions Collection.

The Rolex GMT-Master, originally designed in collaboration with Pan American Airways and issued by the airline to their crews on long-haul flights, was made as an aviator watch.

The highlight of NASA’s 1965 Gemini IV mission was the first space walk by an American. As astronaut Ed White floated free outside the spacecraft for approximately 20 minutes in June 3 he wore an Omega Speedmaster Ref 105.003 strapped by Velcro to the outside of the left-side sleeve of his G4C space suit.

The Seiko Ref 6139 or Pogue is a watch that many ‘Swiss’ collectors covet because of its good looks and space heritage.

A recent sale at Veilinghuis de Jager (35% buyer’s premium) in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands, included a musical table clock signed for the London royal clockmaker John Ellicott (1706-72).

With so many auction houses selling jewellery throughout late July and August this year, there was scarcely a summer break. However, the volume of material offered for sale will increase markedly this month. Pictured here is a brief selection of pieces available to bid for at home and abroad.

This elegant pair of finely worked early Hellenistic gold bracelets featuring a rather sympathetic and graceful rendering of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa are believed to have been made by a courtly goldsmith workshop during the 4th-3rd century BC.

This 11in (28cm) high French automaton black marble and gilt bronze ‘quarter deck’ clock has a figure of a sailor and a captain at the stern.

Included in Hindman’s September 15 sale of Jewellery in Chicago will be a group of pieces designed by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. Among them is this green beryl and diamond ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch.

Delay due to lockdown turns out to be a blessing in disguise in terms of consignments

A rare Rolex ‘Milsub’ – an enhanced version of the brand’s classic diving watch the Submariner – set a new record for a watch at Fellows last week with a hammer price of £140,000 (£165,200 including premium).

Japonisme, the craze for Japanese art first described by the French critic and collector Philippe Burty in 1872, became a key part of Tiffany & Co’s jewellery oeuvre from c.1877.

In the latest in ATG's occasional series of collector interviews, researcher, archivist, gemmologist, specialist and collector Georgina Izzard describes her fascination

Circumstances are quickly changing the way items are bought and sold at auction – but the first principles of quality, keen pricing and provenance still apply.

Most antique shops, centres and galleries, closed between March and June, are now open once more and are eager to make up for lost business. Pictured here is a selection of fine pieces of period jewellery for sale today.

This brooch – an agate cameo in a diamond and enamel surround – has French assay marks for the Berlin-born, Paris-based historicist jeweller Jules Wièse (1818-90).