Bring a Loupe: A Rolex Explorer With RAF Provenance, A Scroll Lug Patek Calatrava, And A ‘Geezer’ Audemars Piguet
It’s Friday on Hodinkee.com, welcome back to Bring A Loupe! Next week, I will be on the ground in Geneva to bring you a special edition of this column after viewing many of the watches up for auction in person. I’ll have picks across the spectrum of price and brand, all informed by the watches themselves in the metal. In the meantime, this week’s edition will be more classical with picks across the web.
In our last edition, a Roger Smith Series 2 Open Dial was arguably the highlight of the bunch and I am pleased to report that the watch found a potential new owner as it has been marked as “on hold.” If the Roger Smith wasn’t the highlight, it was a Cartier London Tank L.C. (or Tank J.J.C. depending on who you ask) over at Fellows in the UK. After some feverous bidding, this one ended at £44,850. The auction house confirmed that it set a new record for a Cartier watch sold at Fellows. Congrats to the team for offering a great watch and, of course, to the new owner! Possibly more rare than those two was our Favre-Leuba Bivouac signed by Eddie Bauer which finished at $3,801 on ShopGoodwill.com.
Let’s get into this week’s picks!
1957 Rolex Explorer Ref. 6610 With RAF Provenance
Produced from 1955 to 1959 as the third dedicated Explorer reference, the ref. 6610 is both historically important and harder to find than its successor, the ref. 1016. Yet, 6610s are somewhat forgotten about. The simple fact that these 36mm Explorers are not 1016s holds them back. When a reference number becomes as iconic as 1016 or 5513, similar or almost identical watches like the 6610 or 5512 become somewhat less desirable because they are not 1016s or 5513s. That’s a bit wordy but I trust that my point comes across.
As an owner of a gilt-dialed 1016, I cannot hide my fandom for Explorers. With that, I am a huge fan and champion of the 6610 – frankly, I think the reference is massively undervalued. When a 6610 is in solid condition, like this one is, it is magical. There is an undeniable charm in the early details like the chapter ring, “OCC” text at six o’clock, and white seconds hand. This example is even further interesting as it has the larger, lollipop seconds hand – while a slight difference, this is a clear tip that you looking at a 6610 and not a 1016.
Up for sale at a small auction house in the UK, this early Explorer comes with some solid military provenance as well. We love watches with stories here at Hodinkee. According to the catalog note, this 6610 was owned by Warrant Officer Navigator First Class Leonard Hall of the Royal Air Force. During his time with the RAF, stationed in the Middle East, Leonard Hall flew transport planes like the Vickers Valetta, Hastings, and Dakota. The Rolex for sale here was a gift from the Sheikh of Oman – a thanks for being a part of his transport crew. Included with the watch are Mr. Hall’s flying log books, photos, a letter from his son, the consignor to this auction, and more provenance items backing up the story. Having an Explorer is cool, having an Explorer originally owned and worn by someone who used the watch to do just that, explore, is even cooler.
This historically important Rolex Explorer is lot 141 of Hansons Hertfordshire’s Hanson Ross November Antiques, Collectables, Jewellery, Wine & Spirits auction on Friday, November 8, at 5 AM EST. The pre-sale estimate is £8,000 to £12,000.
1967 Rolex Zephyr Ref. 1008 With Box And Papers
The Zephyr is a Rolex model that has been lost to time and I can imagine it will stay there. If we were to see Rolex re-introduce the Zephyr in the 21st Century, I would be extremely surprised. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a great vintage Rolex. Some things are just best left alone in my opinion and this niche sport Rolex is one of them.
Rolex introduced the Zephyr in the 1950s with ref. 6582 and the model soon evolved into the ref. 1008. At its core, this model is a spin on the standard Oyster Perpetual with two-tone features, a very distinct faceted finish on the bezel, and a cross-hair dial. The look is really unlike any other Rolex. Carroll Shelby, legendary auto racer, designer, and tuner, favored the Zephyr, wearing his for a 1959 Sports Illustrated spread. Given the age of these watches and dials with a large expanse of “dead space,” it is actually quite hard to find them in good condition. See those lume plots just sitting all by themselves, one drop from waist height could result in the loss of a few of those pips.
Of course, I wouldn’t be featuring a Zephyr if it wasn’t in really outstanding condition and this one is. Plus, it is complete with its original box and papers which is always nice to have. In fact, it is a “real” full set with both the chronometer certificate as well as the Rolex guarantee – even better.
This Rolex Zephyr is on auction over at Loupe This. The current bid price at publication is $4,550 and the auction is set to end on Tuesday, November 5, at 12:15 PM EST. Get all the details right here.
P.S. That’s all of the vintage Rolex for this week, if you’re desperate for more Rolex, check out this vintage tee on eBay.
1952 Patek Philippe Ref. 1491R Calatrava In Rose Gold With Scroll Lugs
Switching gears drastically from vintage Rolex to vintage Patek, our friends over at Collectability just listed one of my all-time favorite Calatrava references, the ref. 1491. In rose gold, it is all the more special.
The 1491 was made in roughly 400 examples between the years 1940 and 1965. That’s quite the production span for a relatively low run of watches. I suspect that while we love the unique charm of this reference’s “scroll” lugs today, back in the day, it was a bit out there for Patek’s clientele. You had to be a very unique buyer to go for this watch and that’s exactly what makes it special today. Patek’s design language, especially in this period, was extremely restrained and classical – think of the classic ref. 96 Calatrava or even the complicated elegance of a ref. 1518. This watch may not seem so crazy to us today but back then, it was off-the-wall insane.
If you Google or search for other examples of this reference, you will find that the vast majority have a sub-seconds register at six o’clock. This particular example is made rare as it features a central seconds hand, a feature that is confirmed as correct by the Extract from the Archives noting a caliber 27 SC, “SC” for center seconds. While it has all of this going for it, there is one “issue” with this watch – the dial was replaced by Patek at service. The obvious tell are the sigma symbols on either side of the “Swiss” marking at six o’clock – a feature of some dials after 1971. Given the importance of the watch, a collector could look past this demerit and it’s important to note that the price is reflective of a service dial as well.
The sellers, John Reardon and the team from Collectability in New Jersey, are asking $24,500 for this Patek. Check it out right here.
1979 Cartier Paris ‘Mid-Size’ Cintrée
The Cartier Cintrée needs little introduction to Hodinkee readers at this point. Whether you fell in love long ago, after watching Talking Watches With John Goldberger Part 2, or more recently, the Cintrée has become the archetypal Cartier Tank for collectors. The true “jumbo” Cintrée is iconic and that’s the one that grabs headlines as well as auction records but I have always seen a certain charm in the next size down, the mid-size. The look on the wrist is more classical, sure, but the curved case still works well in this size. It doesn’t take up the entirety of the top of my wrist and wears more like other Tank models. I might go as far as to say I prefer this size when it comes to Cintrées. Or maybe that is just reality setting in that I probably will never have the chance to own the “jumbo.” Regardless, these mid-sized examples are no consolation prize.
Especially when you look back to the period of vintage Cartier from the 1920s through the 1960s, Cintrées are arguably more common in the largest size. My theory is that if a Cartier buyer wanted a Cintrée they would opt for the “jumbo” as the smaller sizes have more competition from models like the Tank L.C., Tank Obus, and so on. All I can say is that in studying vintage examples that come to market, it seems to me that the mid-size is actually quite rare, possibly more rare than its larger sibling.
The sellers, Adam and Jordan from Menta Watches in Miami, are asking $25,000 for this dead mint condition mid-size Cintrée. Get all the details right here.
1970s Audemars Piguet ‘Ellipse’ With Diamond And Ruby Dial
The week before last, I had lunch with a small group that included Mike Nouveau and Fred Savage. I know, I’m a lucky guy, what can I say? Anyway, about halfway through our delightful lunch, Fred posed a question to Mike that brought the broader conversation to a screeching halt (in the best way): “Can you define a ‘geezer’ watch?” For the unfamiliar among us and those without a TikTok account, “geezer watch” is a term coined by old Hodinkee friend and foe Phil Toledano and popularized through Phil’s all-too-frequent guest appearances in Mike videos. Ultimately, after deliberation, Mike described the geezer watch as a feeling rather than something tangible, more of an “I know it when I see it” situation. Well, I know it when I see it too, and this AP is a certified geezer watch, coming straight from the source, Mr. Nouveau.
Regardless of what you call this genre of watches, there is an undeniable value proposition here if you are attracted to this particular style. In no other form would you be able to find a chunk of white gold with a bracelet and dial of diamonds and rubies from a brand like Audemars Piguet for less than $15,000. Sure, the look is specific but what you are getting is of real tangible value and extraordinary craftsmanship. I quite like the interaction between the diagonally oriented gem-setting on the dial and the similarly angled knurling on the thin bezel of the case. There is a lot going on here but if you can pull it off, it is gorgeous.
The seller, the aforementioned Mike Nouveau, is located in New York City and is asking $14,000 for this 1970s AP. Check it out in full on his app, Pushers.io.
Hodinkee