With winter around the corner, we wanted to highlight some watches from three upcoming auctions held by Bonhams in New York on October 13th, Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on October 13th, and Phillips in Geneva on November 5th.

BONHAMS ‘FINE WATCHES’ AUCTION OCTOBER 13TH, 2021

Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar ref. 3448 / Credit: Bonhams

Starting off in New York, Bonhams has an auction coming in a couple weeks featuring the usual assortment of Patek Philippes and Rolexes, amongst them a couple stand outs. There is a beautiful Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar ref. 3448 in 18k yellow gold, with a yellow gold bracelet to accompany it. The Patek Philippe ref. 3448 was produced between 1962 and 1981 with only 589 examples made, 450 in yellow gold. It is powered by the 37-jewel Patek Cal.27-460Q.

Bonhams also has a 1982 Rolex Submariner ‘Comex’ ref. 16800, Cal. 3035, and a very intriguing 1970s Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Master Mariner. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Master Mariner was a fairly unique JLC dive watch, featuring a cushion, super compressor case.

Rolex Submariner ‘Comex’ ref. 16800 / Credit: Bonhams

Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Master Mariner / Credit: Bonhams

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SOTHEBY’S ‘IMPORTANT WATCHES’ AUCTION OCTOBER 13TH, 2021

Now over to the Sotheby’s auction, also on the 13th of October in Hong Kong. Amongst more of the usual pitter patter they have a couple beautiful Patek Philippe chronographs worthy of highlighting. First is a Patek Philippe ref. 1463 yellow gold chronograph with large gold pushers and Breguet numerals. This watch dates back to the Second World War, produced in 1942, and is powered by the 23-jewel Patek cal. 13'''. A truly exceptional vintage chronograph. Second is a Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split-Seconds Chronograph ref. 5004 that dates back to 2009 and previously belonged to Eric Clapton! This exceptional piece of hardware is powered by the Cal. CHR 27-70 Q and features 28 jewels.

Patek Philippe ref. 1463 chronograph in yellow gold / Credit: Sotheby’s

Eric Clapton’s Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split-Seconds Chronograph ref. 5004 / Credit: Sotheby’s

PHILLIPS’ ‘GENEVA WATCH AUCTION: XIV’ NOVEMBER 5TH-7TH, 2021

And finally, Phillips is offering something really special in their upcoming auction. On top of the 1992 Philippe Dufour Grande et Petite Sonnerie wristwatch, Phillips is selling an extremely rare 1965 Rolex Deep Sea Special! What makes this Rolex so special? Well, the Deep Sea Special was modified to withstand extreme water pressure, tested successfully at 1,080 and 3,150 meters 1953 while attached to the outside of the Bathyscaphe Trieste Submersible! A second prototype was made in 1960 that successfully made it to the bottom of Marianas Trench! To commemorate this feat, Rolex produced 35 versions of these prototypes for the public, pieces that very rarely come up for sale with one of them even held at the Smithsonian Museum.

This Rolex is truly a piece of watchmaking history, with the last one sold by Christie’s in 2009 for 3,380,000 HKD.