Vintage
Povey’s Picks — Bonhams Watches & Wristwatches Sale (November 21st 2017)
Vintage
Povey’s Picks — Bonhams Watches & Wristwatches Sale (November 21st 2017)
A Mixed Bag
Heuers are hot property at the moment, following the recent Phillips monothematic sale earlier this month. It’ll be interesting to see how the five Heuers in this sale perform. There are a couple of Autavias in the auction; a watch that was inspired by both motor racing and flying. The word Autavia is actually an amalgam of two words – automotive and aviation. Lots 160 and 167 are Autavias reference 1163 and 11630 respectively. Classic 70s styling is the order of the day here and they are cool watches. Lot 165 is a Heuer Montreal with a vibrant blue and orange colour scheme that is striking, in a similar way to the Tudor Monte Carlo chronos.
The Ken Kessler Collection
As I mentioned at the top of this piece, there is a special collection being offered as part of this sale; a selection of 14 pieces from the collection of Ken Kessler, Revolutions ‘Editor-at-Large’ and a noted watch expert. The collection is part of a hoard that has been built up over the last 35 years and there are a number of cool and special offerings.
I briefly caught up with Ken and asked him why he had chosen now to wave goodbye to these watches. “It occurred to me that too many of my watches weren’t being worn, and that the time was right to start putting them back into circulation. Thanks to my long-term professional dealings with Bonhams’ Global Head of Watches, Jonathan Darracott, the London-based house was my obvious choice”.
Among the 14 offered lots are a number of Omegas, including a pristine Chronostop Driver’s watch and three military Omegas from 1945, 1953 and 1956. There are a couple of the so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’ in the sale, the aforementioned 1945 Omega and a Timor – as well as two Smiths military watches from the 1950s and 1970s. Civilian pieces feature a trio of unusual Bulovas, including a 1966 Accutron Spaceview and two ‘666’ models: the blue reverse panda dial manual-wind chronograph and the automatic Oceanographer Snorkel 666 with rare Plexiglas “Pepsi-Cola” bezel. From Kessler’s collection of chronographs are a 1960 Wittnauer stainless steel manual wind Professional and a reverse panda Breitling Top Time.
I might have my eye on a couple of his pieces…let’s see!
Check out the full catalogue at www.bonhams.com