Bring a Loupe: The 2025 New York Summer Auctions And A Bonus eBay Pick

Welcome back to Bring A Loupe, and happy New York Summer auction weekend Friday! Yes, it’s another week of major auction house sales, can you believe it? Phillips, Christie’s, and Sotheby’s do everything they can to maintain the attention of collectors during the Spring and early Summer months, touring the world and offering hundreds of watches, often heralding eye-watering results. We’ll have a couple of picks from each of the upcoming sales here, along with one classic Bring A Loupe selection from eBay at a more reasonable price point.

But before all that, let’s recap the results from last week’s column. Our lead pick, the Patek Philippe Ellipse ref. 3938/101 has found a new home, marked as “sold out” — the asking price was $27,995. The Old England Queen Elizabeth Machin stamp watch sold on eBay for a best offer below £190 — congratulations to the new owner, who is a BAL reader. Thanks for commenting as well! Reminder: the 1940 Longines Art Deco “Calatrava” is set to be auctioned by Finarte next Monday, June 9th, at 10 AM ET.

If you’re interested in following the big auctions from home, the schedule is as follows:

Phillips – The New York Watch Auction: XII

Saturday, June 7th, 10 AM ET

Sunday, June 8th, 10 AM ET

Christie’s – Important Watches Featuring Stories in Time: A Collection of Exceptional Watches

Monday, June 9th, 2 PM ET

Sotheby’s – Important Watches: Take a Minute

Tuesday, June 10th, 10:30 AM ET

Phillips – A Black-Dialed 1970s Cartier Tank Louis And A Pair Of Fresh-To-Market Icons

Having recently written a Reference Points on the Cartier Tank Louis, initially published in Volume 13 of the Hodinkee Magazine, you can imagine my surprise when scrolling through the Phillips catalog and hitting lot 103 — a 1970s Cartier Paris Tank Louis with a black dial. After an initial reaction of anger that I didn’t include this rare, possibly specially commissioned, variant in Reference Points, I quickly settled down. The words ‘rare’ and ‘Cartier’ frequently find themselves in the same sentence, and, don’t get me wrong, most of this is apt; however, finding something completely unknown is even more difficult still. Is the original London Crash rare? Yes — as are Santos examples from the 1910s, but we know they exist — lot 103 is something I did not know existed.

Without even considering the dial, this is an already rare variant of the Tank Louis as the “no screws” case was made by Edmund Jeager in Paris right before Cartier moved watch production to Switzerland. This is a bit of a transitional piece because, as Phillips states in the catalog, the movement is the ETA 2512-1-based cal. 78-1 — “correct” for later Swiss-made cases, rather than the JLC calibers found in Tanks prior to 1972. I’m not surprised to see this discrepancy, if we can even call it that, as authenticating vintage Cartier is never so black and white.

Speaking of which, the dial. Subverting the norm of the typical white dial, the black Roman numerals of the Cartier look are truly rare to see from the vintage period. Black-dialed Cartier London watches have gone quite crazy at auction, with a Baignoire Allongée selling for $387,350 last June, for example. It’ll be interesting to see what the market does with this Cartier Paris black dial. The estimate has been set modestly at $15,000 to $30,000.

Otherwise, at Phillips, if you were entirely new to vintage watches and obsessed with stainless steel, you could complete an ideal two-watch collection before the weekend was over. Both fresh to market, the 1969 Rolex Daytona ref. 6239 “Paul Newman” (lot 90) and the Patek Philippe Calatrava ref. 570 with a three-tone Breguet numeral dial (lot 95) is all you would need.

The Newman is in great condition, complete with box and papers, and is consigned for sale by the original owner who received the watch as a graduation gift in 1970. The Patek was purchased by the consignor at an NAWCC “mart” in the early 2000s, although it is technically fresh to the public auction market. Three-tone Breguet dials are a bit of a thing. Remember when Talking Watches guest Alfredo Paramico pulled out 570s of this dial type in steel, yellow, and rose gold? Yes, me too.

143 lots comprise the entirety of the Phillips catalog, click here to scroll for yourself.

Christie’s – A 1927 Audemars Piguet Calendar Wristwatch and Two Early Rolex Explorers with Military Provenance

If someone were to hold my feet to the fire and demand an answer to “What is your favorite era from any watch brand ever?” I would grit my teeth and answer pre-1960s Audemars Piguet. Even before the Royal Oak, AP was a true master of complications, with a specific penchant for my favorite, calendars. Beginning in 1924, the brand produced a total of 48 triple calendar (or “complete calendar”) watches in a rectangular case, similar to the one featured in lot 30. The majority of these were signed only with the retailer through which the watch was sold, as Audemars Piguet was not really a “brand” quite yet. Of the 48 pieces, 22 were cased in white gold, the most common metal, and 17 were what AP called “green gold” at the time, which we now refer to as yellow gold. By my count, 12 of the 48 exist in the market today, 4 of which are “green” or yellow gold.

Presented in astonishingly honest vintage condition, this example boasts a ton of charm, thanks to the dark patina of the case. The dial also presents better in person than the catalog photos suggest. A white gold example sold at Phillips last year for CHF 120,650, having undergone a full dial and case restoration by Audemars Piguet. In contrast, Lot 30 presents itself in entirely original condition, making it a valuable market bellwether for assessing the premium placed on untouched versus restored items. Speaking of markets, the early AP market is suddenly hot after a couple of high results at Monaco Legend Group yesterday, as seen here and here.

Also worth a look at Christie’s is a pair of fresh-to-market 1950s Rolex Explorers, both reference 6610 with US military provenance. Lot 40, a “red depth” dial variant, was consigned by the family of the original owner, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lieutenant Colonel and Legion of Merit recipient Fayette L. Worthington. Lt. Col. Worthington graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1945. His service included duty in France, Manila, West Point, two tours in Vietnam, serving as Group Commander of the 555th in Germany, and as an Army General Staff Officer at the Pentagon. The watch was purchased in 1956, and Lt. Col. Worthington bought the “stretch” rivet Oyster bracelet to pair with it a few months later in 1957. It is accompanied by original receipts, service paperwork, guarantees, and a photo of the original owner.

Completing this pair is lot 71, also consigned by the family of the original owner, yet dating back to 1958. Lieutenant Colonel Alfred N. Luttrell began his service as an officer and pilot for the United States Air Force and later, during the Cold War, supported the Republic of China Air Force — Taiwan’s air force — specifically the Black Bat Squadron, a group of aviators that flew reconnaissance missions into mainland China under the cover of darkness. The Black Bat Squadron was often supported by the United States, particularly the CIA, in a top-secret manner. The watch is accompanied by its original box, papers, sales receipt, hang tag, and other Rolex “bits” along with many incredible photos of Lt. Col. Luttrell.

Check out the full 106-lot Christie’s New York catalog right here.

Sotheby’s – Al Capone’s Platinum Patek Pocket Watch, A 1969 Breguet Empire, and A Patek Ref. 2524/1 Minute Repeater

Extending the New York watch auction “weekend” by another day to Tuesday, Sotheby’s will run their main sale of 113 lots starting at 10:30 AM ET. From a storytelling perspective, the highlight has to be lot 13, Al Capone’s Patek Philippe pocket watch from 1919. As a native Chicagoan, the story of Al Capone’s 1920s crime empire has been ever-present in my life. While far less honorable than the Lieutenant Colonels mentioned above, Capone remains a notorious figure, recognized both in the U.S. and globally as one of history’s most infamous criminals.

The 42mm pocket watch is custom-cased in platinum and adorned on the reverse with 90 single-cut diamonds spelling out his initials, ‘AC,’ in an Art Deco style. The dial has been left untouched as the watch is more of a piece of history than a horological object at this point. It is accompanied by a provenance letter from Capone’s granddaughter, Barbara Mae Capone, and the estimate is $80,000 to $160,000.

Moving on, lot 77 is my pick of the season — if I had some extra coin to bid on one watch (within reason), this is it. Breguet Empires have been the recipient of increasing attention lately as collectors prepare for the brand’s 250th anniversary this year. In short, this would have been one of the finest classically styled time-only wristwatches available for purchase from the 1950s to the early 1970s.

The movement inside is the Swiss-made, chronometer-grade Peseux 260 — It’s among the ultimate manually-wound calibers for both precision collectors and watchmakers. Breguet paired the exceptional Peseux 260 movement with a 35mm French-made case, elegant pomme hands, and a hand-crafted guilloché dial. In terms of craftsmanship, few time-only vintage watches come close. This example, consigned by the family of the original owner, remains in strong condition and carries an estimate of $40,000 to $80,000.

For all you big game hunters out there, you’ll want to take a look at lot 20, a Patek Philippe ref. 2524/1 retailed by Gübelin. The 2524/1 is the ultimate expression of vintage Patek repeating wristwatches. Fewer than 50 were made in total, but only two examples of this metal, pink gold, are known to be on the market. At an estimate of $1.25M to $2.5M, it better be good. This exact watch hasn’t been seen in the public market since The Art of Patek Philippe, one of the first themed watch auctions, in 1989.

1970s Gübelin Ipso-Day

While we’re a bit over-indexed on expensive auction watches this week, I can’t help but include a budget-friendly option available over on eBay. This Gübelin Ipso-Day is just that. The Ipso-Day is an extension of Gübelin’s in-house Ipso-Matic line, introduced in 1954 to commemorate the retailer’s 100th anniversary. Featuring a Felsa Bidynator movement, an early full-rotor automatic, Gübelin wasn’t simply slapping its brand name on a “normal” wristwatch and calling it a day. The Lucerne-based retailer had great taste in watches, so it should come as no surprise.

The “Ipso-” branding started there in ’54 but quickly moved to other white-labeled wristwatches from the retailer. The Ipso-Vox alarm was essentially a JLC Memovox, for example. Here we have a later, 1970s, Ipso-Day, referring obviously to the date complication at three o’clock. On the German side of Switzerland, this dial design bears a resemblance to Junghans Max Bill. The case is stainless steel with a screw back and the movement should be a Gübelin-branded version of the ETA 2472. If you’re looking for a vintage watch you can wear every day, you could do a whole lot worse than this.

An eBay seller in Chelsea, Michigan, has listed this Gübelin Ipso-Day on eBay for auction ending Saturday, June 7th at 4:12 PM ET. At the time of publication, bidding had reached $152.50. Check it out and bid right here.

​Hodinkee 

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