Bring a Loupe: A Cartier ‘Reverso’, An Abercrombie Seafarer, And A Solar-Powered Patek Desk Clock For Tiffany & Co.

Welcome back to Bring A Loupe, and happy Friday! This week’s group is a bit all over the place, but the “best” vintage watches for sale on the internet tend to be like that some weeks, so we’ll jump right into it. Stick around for the last pick, though. It’s a watch from a “brand” you’ve likely never heard of that made the most complicated wristwatch in the world in 1930.

Recapping results from last week, we saw three of the five picks find new homes. Our neo-vintage Parmigiani Toric Chronograph outperformed its $5,000 – $7,000 estimate at Bonhams, selling for $25,600. The sneaky Patek ref. 96 on a not-so-attractive bracelet did well, selling for $12,000, and our Tiffany-signed Movado on eBay sold for $2,625.

And now, this week’s picks!

1975 Cartier Reversible Dual-Time Tank

Loosely reminiscent of a Tank, this reversible dual-time wristwatch from Cartier was produced in a very small run beginning in 1972 and extending through the late 1970s. One of the first pieces made following the brand’s consolidation and production being moved to Switzerland under a partnership with Ebel, the so-called Cartier “Reverso” is certainly quirky. Despite the Paris signature on the dial, the watch was, in fact, made in Switzerland as this is the period for Cartier where dial signatures tip as to where the watch was sold; “Paris” being Paris or London, and “Swiss” being New York. Look out for “Swiss Made” as those are service dials!

Cartier has a history with reversible wristwatches like this, pre-dating this serialized production in Switzerland. There are some Cartier-signed and retailed but JLC-made Reversos to be had, dating to the 1940s. Alongside this Dual-Time, Cartier essentially produced the same watch was produced in a more typical Reverso fashion with a single dial and movement. Those seem to be a bit more common and can be found for about half the price of the watch we have here — half the price for half the watch.

The Dual-Time is powered by two separate Frédéric Piguet caliber 21 movements, a top-of-the-line ultra-thin caliber of the period. The “front” dial features a classic Cartier treatment with black Roman numerals on a white base. It utilizes the 12 o’clock crown, whereas the “back” dial has a champagne finish and uses the bottom crown. As the FP cal. 21 is manually wound, you’ll have to wind the watch via both crowns to keep everything in sync.

The condition here is as good as you will get for this specific model. The case is nice and crisp with no signs of polishing, at least to the caseback. The dials are clean, and both movements were serviced by Cartier in 2023—bid with confidence!

This Cartier “Reverso” is lot 59 of Lyon & Turnbull’s Cartier Curated sale, a brand-themed sale led by industry veteran Charles Tearle, on Sunday, April 29th, at 14:00 BST. The estimate is £25,000 to £35,000. Check out the auction listing right here.

1960s Abercrombie & Fitch Seafarer By Heuer Ref. 2447

Before it was the maker of your daughter’s favorite “vintage” sweatshirt, and before it was that store in the mall reeking of bad cologne, Abercrombie & Fitch was really, really cool. Founded in 1892, A&F catered to the upper echelon of society, who, at the time, were obsessed with camping, fishing, and hunting, playing off the spirit of the American Frontier and Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders”. Names like Ernest Hemingway and Amelia Earhart as well as Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, Taft, Harding, and Kennedy all shopped at Abercrombie’s 12-floor Madison Avenue HQ where one could shoot a rifle in the basement range, test out fly rods in a casting room on another floor, and pick up the latest and greatest outdoors watches from Switzerland — all in one trip!

During this period of the brand, the 1940s, Heuer and Abercrombie & Fitch teamed up. Most of the watches they produced together were chronographs with specific functions, including, of course, the tide-indicating Seafarer, which David T. Abercrombie explicitly requested, as he needed this information on his yearly trip to Switzerland. Heuer delivered, and we now have one of the best and most collectible vintage Heuers ever produced.

The ref. 2447 stands above the rest of this model’s variants as it is the only Seafarer housed in the classic 1960s Carrera case. One of the best chronograph cases ever made, there is really nothing quite like these manually-wound Heuers, and the ultimate version is the Seafarer. These come up for sale maybe once or twice a year, but are typically in poor condition. This one is clean, really clean, and has great patina as well — it’s a top 15% condition example in my mind.

Only adding to the attractiveness is the original owner’s provenance. The auction house states that this Seafarer was consigned by a direct descendant of the original owner, a “Newport, Rhode Island Gentleman” who served as the first director of the Historical and Preservation Society of Newport County. Not bad!

This Abercrombie & Fitch Seafarer is lot 175 of Grogan & Company’s Fine Jewelry sale on Sunday, May 4th, at 11:00 AM ET. The estimate is $12,000 to $18,000. Get all of the details right here.

1960s Patek Philippe Solar Desk Clock For Tiffany & Co. Ref. 902

Patek Philippe may seem like an “old school” brand these days, but in the 1940s, it was at the cutting edge of timekeeping research. During this time, Patek started investigating alternative timekeeping technologies, such as electronic, nuclear, and, of course, solar. One result of this separate research department at Patek was the solar desk clock and the range of references produced from the 1950s through the 1960s.

The first solar desk clocks were quite bare-bones and had silver cases. Overall, they were utilitarian and focused on the accuracy of Patek’s newest technology. If fully charged with light, they would run for a year in the dark, promising an accuracy of one second a day.

Later in the 1950s and into the 1960s, these solar desk clocks were designed to be luxury items. This one, a reference 902, dates to 1966 per the engraving on the back (presented to J.H. Tyler McConnell, a member of the board of directors of Hercules Powder Co.). In short, solar power is taken in through the panel and fed to an accumulator, which then powers a pocket watch movement to move the hands — cutting-edge technology meets age-old horology.

I’ve never been in the market for a Patek Philippe desk clock, but if I were, this would be a serious contender. It has an interesting story behind it, is signed by Tiffany & Co., and has a very Mad Men vibe. Not that I really want to channel Mad Men at my desk in the Hodinkee office, but it’s nice to know I could do it well with this piece.

This Patek desk clock is lot 24A of Bill Hood & Son’s Multi Estate-Art Jewelry & Antiques sale on Sunday, April 29th, at 3:00 PM ET. The estimate is $1,000 to $4,000. Check it out right here.

1957 Rolex Oyster Perpetual Ref. 6532

I love it when these clean vintage Oyster Perpetuals hit my weekly Bring A Loupe searches. The world of vintage Rolex tends to revolve around the sport models, it’s all GMTs, Submariners, Daytonas, and the rest after a while, but the simple OP should not be overlooked. To me, the OP represents Rolex at its best. No frills, automatic movement, water-resistant case — that’s it. When found in excellent condition like this one, they’re one of the best everyday wear watches — if you’re comfortable wearing a 70-year-old watch with a touch of radium lume daily, that is.

On that note, I wouldn’t be afraid of the radium on a watch like this, but I am not a doctor, so do your own research. When shopping for something similar, take note of the sharpness of the lugs here and the even patina on the dial, presenting as cream throughout. This is what you want. Especially with radium, too much patina on the dial can scream “this is a really, really old watch” in the metal and, sometimes, that’s not the most pleasurable ownership experience. By the way, I’m assuming that weird green, blue spec is dust or something similar, and could be removed quite easily — at least I can tell it is on the crystal, not the dial.

This Rolex ref. 6532 is lot 82 of Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers’s London Fine Art, Antiques and Collectors Auction sale on Monday, April 30th, at 9:30 BST. The estimate is £600 to £900. Get the full scoop right here.

1930s James Schulz Monopusher Chronograph In Sterling Silver

I’ll say this from the start: I think the asking price for this watch on eBay is a bit high. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to quickly tell this story, and you can always make an offer to the seller! We’ll get to that in a bit, but first, some background.

James Schulz was a watch importer and watchmaker located in New York. Finding any more information is quite difficult to find, but from the looks of it, Schulz produced, via contract in Switzerland, some very, very cool watches in the early days of wristwatches. Look no further than this grand comp, the most complicated wristwatch in the world when it was produced in 1930. It’s a perpetual calendar chronograph with minute repeater featuring a Stern Frères-made dial, a Victorin Piguet-supplied movement, and a 29mm platinum case — in other words, incredible. From what I can tell, Schulz went on to operate a brand on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, making some more commercial watches, yet still only using Switzerland’s best suppliers. I need to do more research on this as my interest is certainly piqued, and once I do, I’ll write up a full article, as I’m sure I’m not the only one curious about the matter.

Anyway, back to the watch at hand. This is a sterling silver monopusher chronograph from the 1930s. Examples have popped up for sale at Antiquorum before, and it looks like the model was produced in yellow gold and silver. It’s small at 29mm in diameter, but could have a Patek 96-like look on the wrist. Condition-wise, I don’t see any fundamental flaws to call out here; it looks like the watch was rarely worn. It’s old and in great condition, but I think it’s best to make a reasonable offer if you love this “American” watchmaking history.

An eBay seller out of Houston, TX has listed this Schulz for a buy it now price of $3,500 or best offer. The full listing is right here.

​Hodinkee 

​Read More