Print Edition

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including The National Gallery in London acquiring a painting by Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) for £325,000 from the Daniel Katz Gallery.

Lemania is a name that should be as well-known as that of Omega or Tissot. The firm – dubbed by one watch blogger as ‘the greatest maker of watches that you may never have heard of’ – provided every single chronograph movement that those much better-known brands used until the 1970s.

Our regular listing of books and works on paper auctions the UK and Ireland.

MADAM – I would be very grateful if any of your readers could shed light on the artist of the attached crayon drawing of Churchill.

MADAM – The Virtual Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair ended last Sunday (May 31) and we are now busy trying to gauge the short-term results. The main reason for putting it on was always to give all the exhibitors, who missed out on the real fair, a platform in May, and I am really touched by the many lovely messages sent to thank me and the team for our efforts.

The Longines WWW is deemed the second rarest of the ‘Dirty Dozen’. These watches, made by 12 different Swiss brands, were ordered by the British Ministry of Defence during the tail-end of the Second World War for issue to army ground personnel.

Two dealers who met at Kempton antiques fair have kept a group of loyal followers happy and entertained during lockdown with inspired Instagram posts.

Fifteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

The Paris Biennale and dealer association Syndicat National des Antiquaires have organised an online auction at Christie’s.

The market for vintage mechanical wristwatches, which began in earnest in Europe in the 1990s, is not yet fully 30 years old but is maturing rapidly.

Auction rooms in France are gradually opening up again, albeit within the limitations of the new health and safety regulations set as a result of the coronavirus and aided by the extra input from absentee bidding on phones and online.

The lockdown may have reduced the number of UK auctions taking place but buyers have been looking more eagerly for opportunities at those events that have been staged.

Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) has held its first live sales in Paris since lockdown.

From the 1950s-70s, the Rolex produced a range of memorabilia given only to dealers to promote the brand. A vibrant market has grown in the past decade that has broadened the world of watch collectors beyond horology.

The Heuer Monaco, the world’s first automatic chronograph with a square case, was launched at the Basel fair in 1969 with the retail price set at $200.

A group of eight works by Maggi Hambling (b.1945) appeared at a recent online sale held by Welsh saleroom Rogers Jones (22% buyer’s premium).

This 18th century monumental royal coat of arms by John Steell is offered by Wick Antiques in its second edition of 'Britain and the High Seas' at 'Masterpiece', held online this year.

A newly discovered bronze by a French Renaissance sculptor was acquired by the Louvre museum for €1.15m (£1.05m) at an auction in Paris on June 9.

Outside Paris auctions have also started up as lockdown eases.

Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.