Vintage Watch Expert Reviews RARE Watches In SOTHEBY'S Auction

The New York December auctions are coming up, so let's sit down and take a look at some crazy rare and exclusive watches on offer. Hey everybody, we are sitting here with Sotheby's with my good friend Jonathan Burford. We're sitting in Geneva, but we're going to be looking at some of the highlights for their upcoming December New York sale. So luckily this video will come out before the sale happens, so if you're interested in any of the watches, you'll have plenty of time to look at them. Hit up Jonathan here for more pictures and information, and as he was telling me before, there are 150 lots in the sale, a lot of amazing watches, but only the highlights are here in Geneva, so he pulled out some heavy hitters for us. We're going to walk through them, he's going to talk to us about them, and show us some really sick watches I'm looking at. There's going to be about another 300 watches in the online sale, concurrent with this, so there'll be about 450 watches going over. It'll conclude on the 7th of December, and everything will be on preview from the 1st of December. Much to my detriment, I will say guys, take a look, because there's always stuff that slips through the cracks when there's that many watches in an online sale, so you could get some good deals and some good watches from Sotheby's that were great. So what do we got on the table here today? So we've got... What are we starting with? We'll see, we've got four vintage, so they'll be the brightest for you. We've got with heavy hitters, but that's really because what we've got coming from New York on the highlights are here. Tasty Tandy, 4063, 6241 Paul Newman Daytona in 14 karat gold, and Overtone in pink gold, that is, this is the first time this has seen the daylight since 1956, 57, when it was bought in South Korea. Okay. An original Milgauss in amazing condition. Okay. Or rather beautiful. What do you want to start with? Let's go... This... So two things I want to sort of... I think are interesting to look at, because of what happened earlier in the year. Two world records were broken in May this year, and so we have two watches that are really going to see where the market is at, because we know that market was slightly skewed by the entrance of the buyer who bought those two watches. Are we allowed to say? I mean, we can't say who bought the JPS, but I think you've implied it before, who bought... You think bought the ones in... Let's just say they know how to make a watch. Yeah. Okay. And they might be entering an institution, hopefully soon, for public use. They're going to do a museum? I think. I mean, that has to be the assumption. They should. They bought some incredible stuff. They've also bought the best of the best. Right. So... Well, I don't know. I'm looking at this watch, and I'm... Yeah, that's the way we go. Let's start with... Okay. So yeah, this is a 6241 in 14 karat gold with a Paul Newman dial on it. But what's this Paul Newman dial called? JPS. After the 1970s Lotus F1 racing team, this color combination has become basically the most desirable of all the Paul Newman Daytonas, I would say, in 6241. I would say one of them, and I would say, you know, lemon dials for the gold Newmans are up there as well. But the problem is there's so much more. It's easier to find a JPS than it is a Leica. I think so. It's a more active market, right? Correct. More of a come to market. You can kind of really see where values are, and you can kind of peg them to the quality of the watch. Right. This one and the quality on this one is phenomenal. I mean, guys, just to give you before he talks about the watch, I'm just, you know, looking at this watch and, you know, listen, these watches are old and a lot of the times, you know, there's a loom missing or chipped or there's scratches on the dial. The cases have been over polished. Stuff we've talked about on the channel multiple times. And also with these, they have a Bakelite bezel, which often get cracked easily. Delaminate. Yeah. I'm looking at this and it's got to be one of the nicest in the world. The loom looks absolutely perfect. For a normal family owner, they picked up the phone to sell the bezel, it hasn't seen the light of day before. Unpolished. Look at how crisp those pinholes are. I mean, wow. This is just a wow example. And generally, I would say, even though the 14 karat case watches are technically rare, they tend to sell less than their 18 karat counterparts. They're less desirable for whatever reason, certain markets don't really like them. But I think when you're looking at a watch like this, in this condition, this configuration, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter. 14 karat, 18 karat. I personally like 14 karat because you get, and I'll try to get it on video for you. And you get the patina. You get the patina. The 18 karats don't patina the way 14 karats do. You get this beautiful, rich patina, so it makes it almost look like a rose case in some cases. I mean, the only other things I'd point out is like, the case, even the case back is sharp. Like, the original, the case back. So often, when they haven't come on a bracelet, so you're looking for, you know, you can see where people's tools have been used to change the bracelet, there's like, I'd say the strap has been changed. It's like three or four times. Right. The hallmarks, literally, as you'd see them coming out of the factory, the case back, you can see the original brushing. Like, it's just, it's one of those examples, if you're ever going to try one of these, you want to get one of the best ones, this will be a better one. What he's describing is what you're generally looking for when you're assessing the condition on these watches, like the depth of the hallmarks, the polishing on the case, the condition of the dial. This watch checks all the boxes. What's the estimate on this? $400,000 to $600,000. So tell us all, was that honestly left intentionally low to draw interest, or just the consigner was reasonable? I think, so it was a colleague of mine in New York who consigned it, so I don't know the sort of mechanics, how they got to it, but it's a private family. They know the value, whether it should be on the watch. So they know what to have. Yeah, exactly. It's an estimate from like three years ago, before there's been this bit of a spike. But realistically, this is what we were putting on them for years, we've been putting $400,000. Yeah, sure. I mean, even $350,000. I mean, a Van Cleef one I sold at Heritage, I mean, that was a $350,000 to $550,000. So we've sort of priced it where the market was, and let's see where it goes. I have a number in my head, best guess, put you on the spot, what do you think it'll sell for? All in. $1,000,000. I was going to say $1,300,000, $1,400,000. Okay. I mean, like, I'm naturally conservative, but you'd expect me to be being... Yeah, yeah. I mean, the one that He Who Shall Not Be Named bought last season was $2,000,000. That was them, you know? But even, I think, without them, that watch still sells well. It was an underpinner, right? It was a very aggressive underpinner, but once it got over $2,000,000, it's a big number on, effectively, a watch that doesn't come up relatively regularly. Yeah, and a watch that, though, can be sourced under $2,000,000. Yeah, exactly. Okay, fantastic example. All right, what do we have next? Next, I want to go to Milgauss. Once again, we saw Milgauss go absolute gangbusters in May this year. May or may not have been the same buyer. It could well have been. There is certainly speculation. I mean, the thing is, is that, I think, particularly with that one, both of these results reflected, one, the aggressiveness and determination of the buyer, but also the quality of the watch. Sure. But they are outliers. Yeah. The one result doesn't set a market. Just if you... Thank you for saying that. Yeah. If that price comes, like, everybody... We get 50 phone calls after an auction and a great result comes through. Hey, I've got an identical watch. Can you get me $2,000,000? You know, one, you've got to put an estimate on it to attract buyers to come into it. Two, it's got to be of the quality of it, and three, there's an element of luck. There was a colleague of mine who said during a panel discussion that three results set some market. You know, that one is an outlier. Yeah. And the watch you're speaking of in last season, which was at Philips, estimated at $502,000,000 when they called the old stock. I mean, is there a good old number? If two sell, you've got the bidder, the underbidder, there might not have been another bidder. Right. It could have just been two people going crazy. And I thought that watch might have failed to get a bid at $500,000. I thought it was aggressive. Yeah, I thought it was very aggressive. And then it blew out that selling for millions of dollars, you know. So tell us about this one a little bit. I mean, it comes from a very prestigious collection. It is a, in terms of its sort of quality, looks fantastic. Yeah. Like it's a really lovely person. It's incredible condition. You know, there's two types of provenance. There's the provenance where it's original family owner. We know it's never been offered before a market, et cetera, et cetera, which is something like this, right? Comes from a family. First time you'll ever get the opportunity to do it. This is the other kind of provenance that it comes from one of the most important domestic USA collections. So it's, it comes from someone who has literally only been buying the best for the last 15 years. He's slowly beginning to sort of manipulate his collection a little bit to just to trim out some pieces. Sure. And so I, you know, this is a really beautiful example. And again, I think we have it at $180,000. Which I think is reasonable. So it's a reference 6541 Milgauss, which was the very first reference Milgauss, which was Rolex's tool watch to counteract electromagnetic field for scientists, doctors, you know, or anybody who worked in a field that could possibly be affected by electric wave, you know, messing up with their watch. They made this watch in the fifties. They made it in smooth bezel, which is this version. So just a regular smooth bezel, like you see on a fixed bezel, you could call it in a rotating black bezel. I personally like the smooth bezels better. Aesthetically, the market tends to like the black rotating bezels better, but the condition on this watch looks fantastic. It's really interesting to see the lug proportions, because they were worn by people who were working in laboratories and universities. They used to have them polished. Yeah. I see the full proportions with the smooth bezel. So yeah, the watch has been polished, but it's got a nice decays. You can still see some of the original bevels. The dial, though, is fantastic. Not many of them are bad, right? They're quirky watches at the time. Not many were sold. So, you know, they don't come up. For whatever reason, this ribbed guilloche style dial would get pitting underneath it. So often you'll see examples with a lot of pitting. This dial, absolutely perfect. It has a little brown to it. Yeah. Yeah, a little tropical. And it's no lume, so you don't really get the effects of any radium wearing on the dial. Really solid example. I would expect this to sell pretty well. I think they estimate it's right there. Yeah. So the interesting thing, I've consigned a couple of these in the past, and then also a lot of 1019s in the past. And a lot of them come from in the Bay Area of San Francisco, because that's where they were doing a lot of, like, atom collider. It's funny, because I know a couple of collectors do have 6x4 ones there, you know. So what do we got left? We got two left. Two watches left. Then I'll wait to get back to the previews. I know you guys are busy. Got a big sale. And you need to get bidding. Yeah. Well, I'll fill up just today. It's all right. So this is one of my favorites. It's a three-hander Rolex. Objectively, you know, it's a Datejust. They've been making them since the mid-50s. This is probably... That's just not any Datejust. I don't know how to play it. This is a 6105 in pink gold. The consignor's father bought it on his way back from South Korea, having served in the U.S. Army in the 50s. He came back to the U.S., was living in your neck of the woods in Florida. Got back and thought it looked too flash for someone who was essentially an Army grunt. So he put it in a safety deposit box. He died in 2014. And the watch then came to his son, who moved to Alaska and finally thought, maybe it's time to come back. You look at this watch, and again, it always looks like a facsimile of the watch that would have left the factory. This thing is unbelievable. I mean, it just, the condition is incredible. So they call these the Ovatone, or baked egg, because the case back is bigger than the normal. It's like halfway between a bubble bag. Exactly, exactly. And it's great because it's still the 36mm case size. You know, it's not a smaller size, so it wears very well. But they really are beautiful. And this engine turn bezel is just killer. It looks super sharp. The case looks very super sharp. And these were radium dials, because of the error of which way they were produced. And usually you see a lot of patina on the dial. You see a lot of aging. This one, somebody put this away and just tucked it away. And the interesting thing about this one as well, is that it has Daytrust printed in red. And collectors love when, you know, Daytrust, Daytona, whatever, Red Submariner is printed in red. It gives a little more pop to the dial. So it's a little bit rare. Big old dagger eye markers, red carousel, date window. Yeah, it's not necessarily the rarest watch you'd pull out of your buy anything. It's probably the most common. They are hard to find, though, in incredibly good condition. And it's pink. Yeah, just don't make that mention. Yeah, yeah. Probably 9 to 1 of a really beautiful watch. What's the estimate on the watch? 40 to 8. And that's really based on condition. I would say that's a little strong. But, you know, I think you'll get a bid right around there. There have been two comparable watches in the last three or four years. And they've both done incredibly well. Yeah, I mean, I've only sold them myself in yellow gold, usually in the 20s range, you know, 20 to 30. Never a pink gold one. And wow, stunning, stunning watch. I can see you pulled out a couple of watches that you personally like. These are the ones that speak to me. Yeah, but this is such a joy of the job. I mean, how lucky am I? I'll see 400 watches in New York and another 300 here. And you get to fall in love with these things for a small window of time. And then somebody comes along and loves them and we start with a blank sheet of paper and we've got to find... That's why I love my job. I get to wear, you know, Killer Chairman 16528, you know, the dials you never see. And it'll get sold. It'll go on to the next one. Exactly. But you get to enjoy something incredibly special. And then, you know, the growth in sports watches. This was the original sports watch. The last one, only the deck. Yeah, so we've got a 1463. One of my favorite references. Yellow gold with the most extraordinary dial. I was rose from looking at it. Yeah, I think that's the aging of it. Really beautiful condition. The little bit of added spices. The dial is aged, like creamy, caramelly type. And then just above the Patek signature we have the lovely Tiffany & Co. So we've got a little bite at the end here. So 1960s, they were putting Tiffany & Co. sometimes below the hands, sometimes above the hands. This is above the hand. It's the slightly older script but this dial looks like it's never been cleaned. Like never been washed, you know. And I say that, understand we've talked about it before. We've watched our other videos. Most of these old Pateks, I would even say, 98% of them have been cleaned at some point. The dials have been refreshed, they call it. By Patek, where they either redo the varnish or they just try to make it look newer. You can still see the enamel on this dial. The raised enamel. And there's the missing section that you want to have the enamel really high but that generally shows it's been sanded. Right. The balance between the high and the missing. And it has a beautiful patina. Now, I've bought some important Pateks that have patina dials and I've noticed that most big Patek collectors don't like patina on the dial but it depends on how even it is. And this one, wow, it's like a salmon dial. Yeah, it's like the yellow gold version of the pink on pink. Yeah. Wow, what a beautiful watch. Let's look at the case. And again, these are fresh to market, never seen. Very important collection. It's a known watch. It's a really, really beautiful watch. This is a stunning watch. 200 grand. This was the original Patek sports watch. Screw back, waterproof pushes, you could go splash around in it. Again, we've talked about this before but when you look at a watch like this it's everything about it. Some watches are spectacular dials, some of them are unpolished cases. This is like a really beautiful, everything speaks to the age and the condition of the watch. The size, like more in-your-face pop. Yeah, chronographs that they made. And coupled, this one, especially coupled with Breguet numerals, like it just hits all of the, it hits all like the collector marks, you know, like beautiful patina, beautiful case, Breguet numerals, Tiffany & Co. I'm assuming Tiffany & Co. extract confirmed by the extract. What's the estimate on this watch? Two to four hundred bucks. I mean, listen, I have in my pocket actually right now a yellow gold 1463 regular, mint, mint, mint condition and I'm asking $185,000 for that watch. So this is not much more for Breguet. Yeah, Tiffany & Co. We'll see what it sells for. You say that like, oh, it's not that much more money and then it sells for... Yeah, and also $200,000 plus BP. Right. But it is a special watch. There's not many of these available. Wow. I think, alright, so, I think this would be my favorite of the five. What's your favorite? I mean, I've always been partial for these. Yeah, but I have to say, as I get slightly older, slightly more mature, I think if I was to wear a watch every day and I could buy that, I think I would. The 1463, it does everything that I want. It's the right size, the condition of that one. It's just classic. Absolutely classic. I would say from a condition standpoint that JPS is hard to beat. But from a strictly emotional, like, what do I want to have? Yeah, this is a great watch. Well, it seems like you got some fantastic watches coming up in December. When is the sale? It'll be on the 7th of December at 10 o'clock New York time. And the catalog goes live when? The catalog will probably be a full night from here. So, I don't know, about the 14th of November. So, probably right around the time the video will come out. Previewing in LA on the 14th and then we'll be 15th, 16th and then straight on to New York. So, you can come and see literally everything. No, Sotheby's has the best previews because they have such great people on staff who are always willing to help. And the watches are just kind of laid out so you can walk around the room and see what's what and it's easy to get your hands on them to handle and to deck them out. It's the most important thing for anybody either getting into watches or doesn't. If you're chasing a particular watch, that's one thing, but come and see 400 watches. Then you'll see so many things. I didn't realize this was so beautiful. It's nothing like hands-on experience and seeing a bunch of different things and being able to handle it. So, we will link Jonathan's information, as always, below. Please reach out to him for all of your Sotheby's needs, especially with this sale. When the catalog goes live, make an appointment, go see them, or just swing by. Good luck on Sunday. I'll be bidding on a bunch of stuff and I'll be bidding on the sale too, obviously. Those were some really crazy, awesome and presumably expensive watches so look at the description below for all information to reach out to Jonathan or Sotheby's directly. As always, thank you so much for watching. Please remember, comment, like, subscribe, all the normal stuff to help us bump up in the YouTube ratings. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you on the next one. Bye.