Watches & Watch accessories

The market for vintage mechanical wristwatches, which began in earnest in Europe in the 1990s, is not yet fully 30 years old but is maturing rapidly.

From the 1950s-70s, the Rolex produced a range of memorabilia given only to dealers to promote the brand. A vibrant market has grown in the past decade that has broadened the world of watch collectors beyond horology.

The Heuer Monaco, the world’s first automatic chronograph with a square case, was launched at the Basel fair in 1969 with the retail price set at $200.

Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.

As collectors are squeezed out of the market for watches by Rolex and Omega, prices for vintage chronographs by ‘lesser’ makers are steadily rising in value.

This ‘pre-Moon’ Omega Speedmaster purchased new in Berlin in 1960, came for sale at Aston’s (24% buyer’s premium) in Dudley on June 11.

A luxurious watch with a British royal connection went under the hammer last month at Cortrie (20% buyer’s premium) in Hamburg.

Since its launch in 1953 there have been well over a dozen distinct references of the Rolex Submariner, with all sorts of minutiae adding up to several hundred different variants.

An unusual late Victorian silver pocket watch by Herbert Blockley of London sold for an unexpected £2800 at Potteries Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Stoke-on- Trent.

Association with the name boosts value as part of a sale dedicated to the poet.

A superb collection of 61 pocket watches drew strong demand at a Surrey auction last week as remote bidders, using the phone and online platforms, competed for some outstanding 17th, 18th and 19th century examples.

Battered and dust-engrained when found in a basement during a Lake District house clearance, an early unsigned brass lantern clock generated great excitement at Penrith Farmers’ & Kidd’s (18% buyer’s premium).

Second-dibs sales at regional salerooms – those that follow after a major London auctioneer has cherry-picked the contents of a stately country house – can sometimes acquire the slighting epithet of ‘crumbs from a rich man’s table’.

Time is of the essence in the story of Speed Menefee (1879-1968), the shortest-serving city mayor in US history – and original owner of a pocket watch offered at the Chester Decorative Antiques & Art Fair.

John Benjamin reviews the sale of an exceptional collection of desk clocks and Cartier jewels at Bonhams.

From 1969-99 there were more than 20 different references to the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner with numerous variations.

The Omega Seamaster 300 ranks among the most desirable of all diving watches.

This unassuming Grana military issue c.1945 shown below forms part of the so-called Dirty Dozen wristwatches made by 12 Swiss manufacturers for the British army.