Watches of Knightsbridge: June 1, 2024
Dedicated Short post for WatchesofKnightsbridge's Upcoming Watches Auction
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Established in 2011 by Simon Sutton, Watches of Knightsbridge (WoK) is an auction house specializing in vintage (and some modern) watches. Although their auction business is only 13 years old, the Sutton family has 50+ years of experience trading antiques on Portobello Road.
Now located in Knightsbridge, London, WoK is a household name among serious vintage watch collectors. The number of lots per season may be fewer than other houses, but selection is strong. Their online bidding system is easier to use, but as a UK house, bidders with a 10K+ spend are subject to registration for AML measures. My impression over the years is that WoK is an agile, collector/enthusiast supported house with a special focus on rarer military and sports watches. Personally, I wish they could improve their macro photography so I can better assess dial and case condition without having to bug them for additional photos. The zoom feature is nice but photo depth not strong enough to check for hairlines and other imperfections.
For their June 1 Watches auction, Simon and his son Toby have compiled an un-characteristically Cartier/dress watch-heavy catalogue of 180 lots, including a rare Cartier Maxi Ronde which London-native Malaika Crawford wrote about on Hodinkee. For this post I have highlighted 14 lots that may be interesting to subscribers based on condition and rarity. See the whole catalogue here.
As a watch specialist house, WoK’s lots are out of scope of this Substack’s regular weekly auction highlights. Hence I am not assigning auction highlight numbers and commentary will be very brief. In regular auction highlights post, I select auction listings from generalist, public, non-branded online auctions based on condition, a low starting price, and a low estimate of <$25,000. For other non-Big 4 auction houses such as WatchesofKnightsbridge, I sometimes do a brief “dedicated” post without auction highlights numbers. I did one for Aste Bolaffi on Nov 8, 2023, Heritage Auctions on Nov 13, 2023, and Cambi d’Aste on December 5, 2023.
Please note that even for these shorter ‘dedicated’ auction posts, I review the whole catalogue and scrutinize all the catalogue pictures, so it does take me quite a while even though the commentary is brief. If I haven’t included a lot you were interested in, it could be because I felt it did not fit in this Substack’s strikezone, and/or there were issues with authenticity, originality, and/or condition.
For your convenience, I have hyperlinked the lot numbers, so you can click to see more details.
There were several other interesting lots such as a Rolex Valjoux 69 Ref 3481, a London Tank, a 9kt Geophysic, some more enamel Ceintures, a CPCP Tank Louis 1601 1 Pt, a Royal Navy CWC Diver etc, but I have excluded them due to condition issues. I’ve also excluded the lovely ladies’ watches, a quartz Obus and a Blancpain with a chrome case. The Tank Louis 96019 is interesting and would have been my 15th pick, but at the time of this writing, detailed photos were not available, hence excluded for now.
I have not done thorough due diligence nor asked relevant questions for any of the lots, so if you are interested make sure to do your homework before bidding.
Lot 9: Boucheron Carree - Sapphire bezel version of the Carree in strong condition. Note some tarnishing on dial, otherwise excellent.
Lot 13: Cartier Cristallor Ref 78096 - 18KWG!! Commissioned by King Hussein Bin Talal of Jordan. Crack to dial corner and bezel above 1 obvious, but unable to from zoomed photo whether there is any more damage. Dial issues such as cracks/hairlines are usually a hard pass for me but highlighted here due to rarity.
Lot 14: Cartier Faberge Ref 78101 for Kuwaiti Armed Forces - If you were a military officer, of course you would commission a tough-as-nails enamel Faberge over a Submariner (/s). Chip? in dial between 7 and 8, but can’t tell details and if there are hairlines in the dial even if I zoom in to the photos. Ask if you are bidding.
Lot 19: Cartier Ceinture Ref 78099 - per WoK, dial in excellent condition. 27mm.
Lot 24: Piaget Ref 9118 - Co-signed Cartier Paris!
Lot 37: Cartier Maxi Ronde - Read Malaika Crawford's excellent write-up. Note some aging to dial, can’t tell from the catalogue photos. At a large 35mm with hidden lugs, probably wears very nicely, as also mentioned in the article.
Lot 46: Chopard Happy Diamonds for Kutchinsky London - You laugh, but the Happy Diamonds are consistently in the Top 5 of popular ladies watches today. This is a large 32mm diameter 70’s example with signature Kutchinsky Onyx dial!
Lot 96: IWC Dress Watch - And speaking of 70’s onyx and diamonds, here is a rare and uncharacteristic IWC dress watch. Notice how the design lacks the fluidity and finesse of the French brands. 25mm.
Lot 114: Rolex Ref. 1514 - 18KYG bracelet in what appears to be excellent condition and accompanied by original guarantee and other accessories. Champagne dials on gold watches seem to be popular again.
Lot 122: Rolex Oysterquartz Ref 17000 - Not a Pre-SCOC, but very nice condition. Oysterquartz buoyed by their distinctive case shape and the recent reevaluation of quartz generally.
Lot 129: Rolex Submariner Ref 5513 - Explorer dial consigned by family of original owner. Dial not in best condition but highlighted due to rarity and provenance.
Lot 149: Vacheron Constantin Ref 39549-0898P-7390 “Kalla” Sovereign - 90’s descendant of Raymond Moretti’s opulent 70’s jewelry watch. Excellent timing, Vacheron announced a new Lady Kalla at Watches & Wonders. Also see here.
Lot 155: Zenith El Primero Ref 95.0100.418 - If you recall I highlighted a grey-on-grey version (AH24040904) before. This is the whitish-silver dial version with racing red chrono sweep and minute hash marks.
Lot 157: Heuer “Monnin” Ref 844 - Second iteration of Heuer’s 42mm French diver.