These Are Some of the Most Fascinating Vintage Watches to Hit the Auction Block

Thematic auctions are an interesting way to differentiate a particular group of vintage watches from the crowd, though some themes are more interesting than others Why are these watches notable? For one thing, they marry a watch to a particular moment of time - certain retailers are no longer in business, for example, while certain manufacturers no longer follow the practice of allowing their modern timepieces to be stamped by retailers Finding one of these watches in good condition can feel like discovering a time capsule - the signature automatically tells you which market a watch was sold in, and between the signature and the model and reference of the timepiece, a knowledgable watch lover can glean myriad interesting information.

To gain some more insight, we recently spoke with Phillips's Alex Ghotbi, Head of Watches for Europe and the Middle East, about the curation of the Double Signed lots and why they're so exciting for watch lovers Q: How does one go about sourcing so many double-signed watches for a specific auction such as this one? Was the process considerably more difficult and complicated than, say, an auction of chronographs, or sport models?A: I think people tend to be more willing to part with their watches when there's a theme auction We have 66 lots in this auction representing 23 retailers and 16 or 17 different brands, and to get there, had to look at 1,000 watches.

We also have watches from Tudor double-signed by Harrods, Patek double-signed by Tiffany, and watches from Omega, Universal Geneve, Heuer, and Jaeger-LeCoultre. . Source