There are many iconic watch collectors, both in modern times and those past. Almost always they are figures famous for something other than watch collecting; athletes, actors, politicians. Amelia Earhart, however, was not only a modest collector but also a revered pilot. And like most pilots, Earhart wore watches and reportedly owned several throughout her lifetime. Let’s take a look.
Earhart was born in Kansas in 1897, as a child she moved around, despite her family’s status they were not financially stable. She started flying after working as a nurse in WWI, taking her first lessons in 1920.
Earhart became famous both for being a passenger in a 1928 transatlantic flight and for her own 1932 transatlantic flight completed in record time. She became the first woman on a transatlantic flight in 1928 and then the first to complete one four years later.
Amelia Earhart’s monopusher Longines worn for both of her transatlantic flights in 1928 and 1932. / Credit: NASA Round Up Reads
Now, regarding instead her watch collection, there have been several that have turned up and been auctioned over the years. Amelia’s Cresarrow Watch Co., Tiffany-signed travel watch sold for $75,000 USD in 2017 at a Christie’s auction in New York. According to Christie’s this timepiece was a gift to Earhart from fellow female aviator Amy Johnson for the completion of her 1932 flight! Johnson was British and was famous for some time particularly for her flight from London to Darwin in 1930.
Amelia Earhart is also known to have worn the same monopusher Longines double-register chronograph during both of her flights in 1928 and 1932. This is the same watch she gave to her friend H. Gordon Selfridge Jr., who in return gifted her the watch she wore on her final flight in 1937...
NASA Astronaut Shannon Walker and Joan Kerwin, Director of The Ninety-Nines / Credit: NASA Round Up Reads
Amelia continued breaking records with the first solo flight from California to Hawaii in 1935 and others as well. Unfortunately, however, Amelia met a real aviator’s end when she disappeared during a flight around the world in 1937 with Fred Noonan. Despite her demise she left behind a legacy not only of being a maverick in the world of aviation and also of breaking down barriers for women in many fields, but also for owning some pretty collectible watches by today’s standards.
In 2010, to mark the 82nd anniversary of Earhart’s 1928 transatlantic flight, her Longines monopusher chronograph was also taken up to the International Space Station by astronaut Shannon Walker.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Amelia Earhart.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amelia-Earhart.
Hui, Mabel. “Cresarrow Watch Co. A Fine Silver Travel Watch, Belonging to American Aviation Pioneer, Amelia Mary Earhart.” Christie’s, https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-cresarrow-watch-co-a-fine-silver-travel-6119966.
Brazier, Hugh & McCann, Jan. The Book of 365: All the Numbers, None of the Maths. Random House, November 13th, 2014, London, United Kingdom.