Watches & Watch accessories

For many years, to be a watch collector was to collect pocket watches from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Today it is more likely to signal an interest in 20th and 21st century wristwatches by well-known brands or specialist makers. Search this category for everything from the finest Swiss gold and enamel chronometers to the battle-worn Rolex of an RAF pilot.


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Edgar Allan Poe’s good times did not last

30 September 2019

Though his works are now revered and highly valued in his native land, Edgar Allan Poe spent most of his writing life in debt. There were, however, a few months in the early 1840s when, while working in Philadelphia as an editor and contributor on 'Graham’s Magazine', he enjoyed some short-lived financial success.

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Turquoise tempter at Arley Hall

02 September 2019

This 1940s Jaeger-LeCoutre Triple Calendar 273175 Mechanical watch is offered for £4200 at the next Arley Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

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Sully surfaces for a £17,000 sale

19 August 2019

Clock produced by Englishman influential in French horology impresses in Norfolk auction.

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Pick of the week: Pocketwatch with Oliver Cromwell connection sells in Cumbria

05 August 2019

Did a watch offered for sale in Carlisle at the end of July once belong to Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)? Two centuries of provenance suggest it did.

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Hidden depths to the market for military diving watches

22 July 2019

A cache of military diving watches sold in Hampshire and a £125,000 Daytona spotlight the thriving market for vintage mechanical ‘tool’ watches.

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‘Synchronise your watches’ for a £3200 Weems

22 July 2019

On January 4, 1940, the London subsidiary of the Omega Watch Co received an urgent order from the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company for 2000 watches intended for Royal Air Force crews. Delivery was to be made by March 10, 1940.

1982 Space Traveller I, a George Daniels pocket watch

Auction record for English watch as George Daniels timepiece sells for £3m at Sotheby’s

16 July 2019

Among the objects in demand at Sotheby’s this season was one of only 23 pocket watches made by George Daniels (1926-2011) – the 1982 Space Traveller I.

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Silver Tompion pocket watch discovered buried in Hexham ground

15 July 2019

A silver pocket watch by ‘father of British clockmaking’ Thomas Tompion has been literally unearthed in Northumberland.

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Masterpieces to a Rothschild’s taste tempt buyers during a packed London sales week

08 July 2019

The 52-lot auction of furniture, paintings and works of art collected by members of the Rothschild family was among the most animated during a packed week of London showpiece sales.

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Previews: £30,000 plus

27 May 2019

The Watch Sale at Fellows in Birmingham on June 18 includes arare Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona chronograph with ‘reverse panda’ white on black dial.

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Manchester City first ever FA Cup win in 1904 marked by Billy Meredith gold watch coming up for auction

24 May 2019

When Manchester City lifted the FA Cup this month they created football history by becoming the first club to win all three major English domestic honours in the same season. A watch coming up for auction from a very different era marks their first ever FA Cup success, however.

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Watch takes inspiration from play that became an opera

29 April 2019

The chain of artistic influences that led to the decoration of a gold-enamel watch made by John Kenable of Frith Street in London in c.1800 can be traced back to 1766.

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Phillips to offer rare wristwatch find in Geneva

15 April 2019

The May 11-12 Geneva sale conducted by Phillips in association with watch consultancy Bacs & Russo includes one of the most complicated wristwatches of the pre-war era: the Vacheron Constantin minute repeater with retrograde calendar from 1940.

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Renaissance continues in market for mechanical wristwatchs

15 April 2019

Watch collectors priced out of the market for blue-chip branded sports models are finding value for money elsewhere.

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Rolex ‘Big Red’ Daytona makes huge return for vendor at Cardiff auction

15 April 2019

The ‘Big Red’ Daytona reference 6265 is one of the most desirable Rolex chronographs from the 1980s.

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Rare variant of Compur chronograph made for extreme climates brings remarkable bidding in Hampshire

15 April 2019

Universal Genève helped change the horological landscape in 1934 with the introduction of an affordable two-button Compur chronograph – a line that continued into the 1940s.

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Heuer watches steeped in racing heritage bring demand at auctions across UK

15 April 2019

Heuer watches, steeped in racing history, are among the ‘secondary’ or ‘niche’ Swiss brands that have entered the mainstream collecting arena in the past decade.

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Vendors dive into the salerooms to offer Second World War watches

15 April 2019

It was during the First World War that the convenience of the wristwatch began to replace the pocketwatch but it really came into its own with the production of bespoke ‘tool’ watches for submariners and airmen later in the century.

Rolex stand

Pick of the week: The time to take a stand with vintage Rolex accessories

25 March 2019

Surprise bid highlights demand for vintage Rolex accessories at auction.

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Pick of the week: 18th century pocket watch by Henry Cowper bought for £1 proves a profitable investment

25 February 2019

An 18th century pocket watch by Gibraltarian goldsmith Henry Cowper emerged for sale at Rowley’s auction house in Ely. It belonged to a Lincolnshire private collector who bought it over 50 years ago for £1 from a former resident of the Rock.

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