Features

The French inventor André Romain Guilmet (1827-92) took out many patents for his ingenious designs including in 1868 the idea for a driving chain on a bicycle.

Australian-born concert pianist, composer, arranger, writer, artist and photographer Robert Weatherburn collects cameras as one of his hobbies. Here he tells ATG about his collecting

Recent auction sales shone the spotlight on pioneering photographers active in the first days of the art

Described as “exceptionally large” when offered by Chiswick Auctions (26/12% buyer’s premium), this black and white presentation photograph depicts Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975).

Julia Margaret Cameron was a neighbour and close friend of Alfred Tennyson on the Isle of Wight.

The personal photo album of a crew member of a post-war Antarctic whaling factory ship is for sale in April 29 at Charles Miller in London for an estimated £800-1200.

The historic but compact English city of Lichfield and historic photographic views of China are not an immediately obvious fit but two auction houses made the connection recently.

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.

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.

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

Piaget launched its Polo wristwatch model in 1979.

Tommy nearly made the supreme sacrifice to support the Allied cause in the Second World War.

An atypical entry to the March 4-9 sale at the Harwich antiquities specialist TimeLine is this gold medal struck in Philadelphia following the sinking of American steamship Casper, on December 23, 1928.

Two excellent examples of the highest British awards for courage are coming up in the same London auction on March 11.