Elvis Presley’s 18ct Corum Buckingham is expected to sell for £40,000-50,000 as part of the Essex firm’s Fine Jewellery and Watches auction on November 17.
The watch, with a square hobnail dial, black hands and cabochon crown, is engraved to the case back in block lettering To Richard from EP. Serial numbers date it to c.1960. It was given as a gift by Elvis to Richard Davis, his personal valet and the man responsible for the purchase of much of his wardrobe. He began working for Elvis in the early 1960s.
It is accompanied by an affidavit from Davis stating that ‘One day Elvis took the watch off his wrist and said there was something wrong with the back of it. I turned it over and Elvis had inscribed it to me – he said ‘well I guess it’s yours now’.’ A second statement by Charlie Hodge, Elvis’s stage director and sometimes backing singer, confirms the story and adds that this was one of The King’s favourite timekeepers.
The watch is not one of the many that were given to Elvis as gifts from film companies in the 1970s, but one that he acquired closer to the peak of his career and wore on numerous occasions. Photographs of him wearing the watch come as part of the lot alongside a copy of the book Man and his Watch by Matt Hravek in which it is featured.
