Watches & Watch accessories

For many years, to be a watch collector was to collect pocket watches from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Today it is more likely to signal an interest in 20th and 21st century wristwatches by well-known brands or specialist makers. Search this category for everything from the finest Swiss gold and enamel chronometers to the battle-worn Rolex of an RAF pilot.


Daniel Quare pocket watch

Plea to help track down stolen Daniel Quare pocket watch

20 March 2021

A Daniel Quare pocket watch has gone missing in transit and its owner hopes the trade may help locate it.

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5 Questions: vintage wristwatches specialist Alex Stevens

15 March 2021

Alex Stevens began selling collectables aged 14, going on to specialise in vintage wristwatches. He launched Alex Stevens Vintage in late 2020.

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Two electronic watches making three figures at auction

08 March 2021

Introduced in 1960, the Bulova Accutron 214 was among the first commercially successful electronic watch.

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Longines ‘Tuna can’ timepiece sold at Gardiner Houlgate

08 March 2021

This rare 1940s Longines British military issue is appropriately nicknamed the ‘tuna can.’

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Prototype Explorer that aimed for peak perfection

08 March 2021

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.

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Taste of adventure: Omega ‘Red Racing Dial’ Speedmaster emerges at Sotheby's

08 March 2021

A recent Sotheby’s New York (26% buyer’s premium) sale included this rare ‘Red Racing Dial’ Speedmaster consigned by the original owner.

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Oysterdate Monte Carlo makes £8500 at Bonhams

08 March 2021

The Oysterdate Monte Carlo series were the first chronographs produced by Tudor.

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Grima and Omega – the About Time partnership

08 March 2021

At the peak of his fame in the 1969, the Anglo-Italian jewellery designer Andrew Grima was invited by Omega to create what would become the About Time collection.

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Rolex rolls on as a market favourite

08 March 2021

Unrestored models selling for top results

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Value judgment: Interview with the new head of watches at Lyon & Turnbull

08 March 2021

With classic watches usually priced in five or six figures, it is worth discovering the less well-known brands and especially those from the 1980s, says newly appointed Lyon & Turnbull specialist Sarah Fergusson

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Collectors vie for Breguet gold watch which belonged to a Tolstoy

01 March 2021

Abraham Louis Breguet is generally considered to be the greatest watchmaker of all times, responsible for numerous inventions, which revolutionised the art.

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It’s Tompion time in Birmingham

01 March 2021

Although Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) is often referred to as the Father of English Clockmaking, his talents were not just limited to clocks.

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A Cartier ‘tool’ watch from 1915 makes £12,000 at Fellows

22 February 2021

Although the elegant lines of the Cartier Tonneau Curvex wristwatch are the antithesis of today’s macho tool watch, many were used by soldiers in the First World War.

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Pocket watches demand rockets

08 February 2021

Dealers’ online retail site reveals the pocket watches collecting market has become one of the biggest growers.

Breguet Four Minute Tourbillon watch

Rare George III watch barred from leaving country in hope it can be bought by a UK buyer

03 February 2021

A £2m pocket watch once owned by George III has been temporarily blocked from export to give a UK institution the chance to purchase it.

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George Achard ruby and diamond ring watch from c.1780 emerges at Hamburg sale

25 January 2021

Cortrie in Hamburg is holding an auction of watches and vintage timepieces on February 13.

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Four brothers who were handy in the watches market

25 January 2021

The Swiss maker Bovet Fleurier, chartered on May 1, 1822, in London as one of first watch companies to do business in China.

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Wind it even with gloves

21 December 2020

Estimated at £800-1000 at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) but sold at £10,000 was this International Watch Company Luftwaffe pilot’s watch, c.1940.

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Plea to help find presidential pocket watch stolen from London dealer

17 December 2020

The trade has been asked to look out for a 14ct gold pocket watch that was stolen on December 12 from a gallery in Camden Passage in Islington, London.

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Mudge and Dutton cased pocket watch ticks boxes at Golding Young & Mawer

16 November 2020

A George III gold pair cased pocket watch gave a strong start to the Golding Young & Mawer (20% buyer’s premium) November 4 sale (brought forward a day to avoid lockdown restrictions).

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