Rolex

A Richard Winterton (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Lichfield included this 1973 Rolex Explorer II which sparked international interest.

Along with its Summer Fine Art sale, Tennants held a jewellery, watches and silver sale on July 17.

Tennants’ recent sale of Jewellery, Watches & Silver included, at a top-estimate £9000, a rare Omega aviator’s watch.

After a decade riding a market wave, ‘original owner’ Rolex tool watches are increasingly scarce at auction.

In these days of the internet search engine and the live bidding platform, it is reassuring to know that bargains are still out there.

Rolex made the reference 6150 Oyster Perpetual Explorer for around two years after the 1953 Everest expedition. It is believed that Tensing Norgay wore a prototype of the watch, the first Explorer model to have the Mercedes hands, while completing the ascent.

Unrestored models selling for top results

The Rolex GMT-Master Ref 6542 is known to collectors as the ‘Pussy Galore’ as it was worn by Honor Blackman in Goldfinger. Made from 1954-59, it was replaced by the more commonly encountered GMT-Master Ref 1675.

The Submariner 5508 released in 1958 was the last of the so-called ‘James Bond’ Submariners.

Dorotheum’s auction of wrist and pocket watches in Vienna on November 27 includes this Rolex Dato Compax ref 4768.

Watch parts such as replacement dials, cases and hands from well-known models can add up to a lot of interest at auction, as recent results show.

A Rolex Submariner 5512, bought for around £70 by its original owner in 1964, has sold for £175,000 at auction in Wiltshire.

The Rolex GMT-Master, originally designed in collaboration with Pan American Airways and issued by the airline to their crews on long-haul flights, was made as an aviator watch.

A rare Rolex ‘Milsub’ – an enhanced version of the brand’s classic diving watch the Submariner – set a new record for a watch at Fellows last week with a hammer price of £140,000 (£165,200 including premium).

The market for vintage mechanical wristwatches, which began in earnest in Europe in the 1990s, is not yet fully 30 years old but is maturing rapidly.

From the 1950s-70s, the Rolex produced a range of memorabilia given only to dealers to promote the brand. A vibrant market has grown in the past decade that has broadened the world of watch collectors beyond horology.

Since its launch in 1953 there have been well over a dozen distinct references of the Rolex Submariner, with all sorts of minutiae adding up to several hundred different variants.

A cache of military diving watches sold in Hampshire and a £125,000 Daytona spotlight the thriving market for vintage mechanical ‘tool’ watches.

The Watch Sale at Fellows in Birmingham on June 18 includes arare Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona chronograph with ‘reverse panda’ white on black dial.