Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

A private collection of clocks provided the core of the auction titled Clocks & Watches Through the Ages at TW Gaze on March 4. Seventeenth century continental European clocks provided two of the day’s top prices.

Since Patek Philippe brought out the Calatrava in the 1930s, the watch – with time-only functionality and an austere circular case shape – has been produced in many different dial and case variants.

An elaborate 18th century French skeleton clock tentatively linked with two leading names working in Paris during the golden age of French clockmaking led a recent Kidson Trigg’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Swindon.

The Universal Genève Tri-Compax (Ref 222973) is one of the classic post-war chronographs.

Affirming the continued interest in the watches made under the direction of Jean-Jacques Cartier (1919-2010) in London during the mid-60s to early 70s, Roseberys (26/25% buyer’s premium) sold two good Cartier London watches on February 5.

In 1953, the same year as the successful Mount Everest expedition were equipped with Rolex wristwatches, Rolex released the Oyster Perpetual Explorer.

Tiara takes highest sum as jewellery supplied to an aristocratic family features in Paris sale

Among the earliest watches in the auction titled Clocks & Watches Through the Ages held at TW Gaze (26.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Diss, Norfolk, on March 4 was a Dutch timekeeper from the first half the 17th century.

A selection of stand-out watch lots coming up at sales around the UK

Based in workshops near the Place des Bergues in Geneva in the 1850s-60s, the jeweller Auguste Dutertre (1798-1866) found a niche making so-called ‘bijoux à montres’ - watch movements concealed in notebooks, powder-boxes or, as here, a pair of lorgnettes.

A gold and enamel Dent pocket watch given by Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, to the Italian opera singer Giuseppina Grassini surfaced for sale at an auction in Austria

Cotswold Art Antiques Chelsea runs from March 20-23 at Chelsea Old Town Hall in London.

This silver desk clock designed in the form of a Rolls-Royce radiator grille with a red enamel badge and a miniature Spirit of Ecstasy mascot perched on top is thought to have been given as a Christmas gift by the British luxury car maker to one of its distributors.

Charlotte Morris Roper is at the helm of Plaza 20th Century Jewellery, a vintage jewellery business specialising in French and European items with a particular focus on the 1940s-60s.

Piaget launched its Polo wristwatch model in 1979.

The latest silver and jewellery sale at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (26/25% buyer’s premium) in Exeter included two Georgian 18ct gold pocket watches from two generations of the Drummond family.

Salisbury saleroom holds specialist offering staged as part of a three-day sale as demand increases

Two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld for his wife have gone on display at Eltham Palace, eight months after they were sold at auction by Dreweatts in Newbury.