Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

A Rolex Submariner 5512, bought for around £70 by its original owner in 1964, has sold for £175,000 at auction in Wiltshire.

Vincent Page, owner of Antiques on High centres in Oxford and Sidmouth, reports that trade in both shops has been good with “a significant increase in Sidmouth, on numerous days taking more than AOH in Oxford”.

The Woolley & Wallis sale on October 6 included 36 lots by the Birmingham Arts & Crafts jeweller George Edward Hunt that had come by descent from his family. They had featured in an exhibition held at Bonhams in 2006.

This textbook William and Mary longcase clock is from the workshop of Joseph Windmills, one of the finest clockmakers in late 17th century London.

A 16th century German weight-driven turret wall clock is offered as a prime example of Renaissance horology at New Orleans gallery MS Rau’s exhibition 'Time Across Time: Clocks and the Art of Timekeeping'.

A Grana Ministry of Defence wristwatch – the hardest to find of the so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’ watches made by 12 Swiss manufacturers for the British army– sold for £18,000 at Thomas Miller in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

The allure of well-priced, market-fresh chattels from a blue-blood country estate can pique the interest of the most world-weary auctioneer or antiques dealer.

The Japanese battery-powered watches once viewed as cheap and lacking soul are now being taken seriously at auction despite collector snobbery

Perhaps the quirkiest of all of the many Omega Speedmaster models is this one with a cushion shape or ‘TV’ dial.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Speedmaster Professional as a space exploration tool in 1997, Omega created the Missions Collection.

The Rolex GMT-Master, originally designed in collaboration with Pan American Airways and issued by the airline to their crews on long-haul flights, was made as an aviator watch.

The highlight of NASA’s 1965 Gemini IV mission was the first space walk by an American. As astronaut Ed White floated free outside the spacecraft for approximately 20 minutes in June 3 he wore an Omega Speedmaster Ref 105.003 strapped by Velcro to the outside of the left-side sleeve of his G4C space suit.

The Seiko Ref 6139 or Pogue is a watch that many ‘Swiss’ collectors covet because of its good looks and space heritage.

A recent sale at Veilinghuis de Jager (35% buyer’s premium) in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands, included a musical table clock signed for the London royal clockmaker John Ellicott (1706-72).

With so many auction houses selling jewellery throughout late July and August this year, there was scarcely a summer break. However, the volume of material offered for sale will increase markedly this month. Pictured here is a brief selection of pieces available to bid for at home and abroad.

This elegant pair of finely worked early Hellenistic gold bracelets featuring a rather sympathetic and graceful rendering of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa are believed to have been made by a courtly goldsmith workshop during the 4th-3rd century BC.