Rarity a Critical Factor in Collecting Fine Watches

By: Donald McLean

Watch

Spring 2015 Fine Jewellery Auction

In all forms of collecting, one of the most important factors in determining the value of an item is its rarity. For over a century, manufacturers of fine watches have recognized this and periodically they have created special limited edition offerings whose small production runs guarantee rarity. The spring 2015 Fine Jewellery And Watch auction features numerous fine wrist and pocket watches including two very special examples of these limited edition watches.

The first is a Montblanc wristwatch produced just a few years ago … the Montblanc Star Nicolas Rieussec Mono-Pusher Chronograph. This line of watches pays homage to Nicolas Rieussec, who in 1821 patented the world’s first chronograph. Rieussec’s “Time Writer” was a box with spinning discs, and was created to track the running times of multiple horses in an 1821 Parisian horse race, to an accuracy of a quarter of a second. Montblanc’s design of the watch reflects the spinning discs of Rieussec’s Time Writer, and this 18k white gold and diamond watch had only 15 examples created, of which we are proud to offer #10.

The second limited edition watch comes from almost a century earlier … a Gruen 50th Anniversary pocket watch celebrating Dietrich Gruen’s 1874 patent for a new watch pinion. The extravagant watch was issued in 1924, and retailed for $500. Gruen made 600 examples, representing the 600 months in 50 years of watch production, and each featured a hand-made and engraved 23 jewel movement created entirely of 12k rose gold. Watch #72 of 600 will be part of our Spring Fine Jewellery And Watch Auction, along with fine wrist and pocket watches by Rolex, Cartier, Tiffany, Chopard, Vacheron & Constantin, Patek Philippe, Le Roy, August Ericsson, IWC and Piaget.

View the Auction Gallery

View the PDF Catalogue

View the Virtual Catalogue


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