Clocks, Watches & Jewellery

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Included in Hindman’s September 15 sale of Jewellery in Chicago will be a group of pieces designed by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. Among them is this green beryl and diamond ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch.

This 11in (28cm) high French automaton black marble and gilt bronze ‘quarter deck’ clock has a figure of a sailor and a captain at the stern.

Delay due to lockdown turns out to be a blessing in disguise in terms of consignments

A rare Rolex ‘Milsub’ – an enhanced version of the brand’s classic diving watch the Submariner – set a new record for a watch at Fellows last week with a hammer price of £140,000 (£165,200 including premium).

Japonisme, the craze for Japanese art first described by the French critic and collector Philippe Burty in 1872, became a key part of Tiffany & Co’s jewellery oeuvre from c.1877.

Many jewels by Anglo-Italian designer Andrew Grima carry the mark HJCo for the Haller Jewellery Company, the workshop of Grima’s father-in-law where he first found work in the accounts department in 1946. It was not until two years later that (untrained) he moved into design.

Large quantities of antique, vintage and second-hand jewellery have been sold at auction, both during and after the lockdown. ATG reviews some of the highlights and notes a change in buying habits