Watches & Watch accessories

As the market develops, some of the ‘secondary’ niche Swiss brands have entered the mainstream collecting arena. The Bonhams (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Watches and Wristwatches sale on June 20 offered a range of 46 Heuers from a single-owner private collection.

A selection of wristwatch previews.

A pocket watch worn by Lord Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar and probably given to him after his triumph at the Battle of the Nile is to be offered at auction next month.

Individually, watches which the War Office commissioned from 12 Swiss makers during the Second World War are not as highly rated as other military watches – but as a set they are a holy grail for British collectors.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Celebrated in the thoroughly modern way with a Google Doodle on April 3 on what would have been his 325th birthday was John Harrison.

Military issue watches, particular those from the Second World War, are bringing ever stronger prices.

While many a hopeful vendor has to be told gently that great-great-grandpa’s pocket watch is worth little more than the melt price of the metal, a complication or major name – such as the signature Ch. Frodsham, London to the movement of this example, below – makes all the difference.

MADAM – I think the increased interest and associated rise in value of vintage and collectable watches means auction houses really need to up their game both in terms of what they’re selling and how they are describing lots.

Among the most desirable of all Second World War wristwatches – a strong suit in this currently hot collecting arena – is the Panerai 3646. This distinctive model was initially intended for the Royal Italian Navy but was also used by German submariners or Kampfschwimmer.

The first Rolex Submariner was introduced to the public in 1954 at the Basel Watch Fair but it was Ian Fleming’s fictional spy, James Bond, who in 1962 transformed a reliable and rugged dive watch to a status symbol embodying suave masculinity and a sense of adventure.