The Dec. 8 Heritage Auctions Signature® Timepieces Auction will offer more than 650 lots of fine watches and assorted timepieces that are no less than a survey of the last 300 years of the art of horology. Headlining the Dallas auction is a magnificent Cartier jade, coral, diamond and rock crystal mystery clock estimated at $70,000 to $80,000.
?Cartier mystery clocks are rarely offered for sale and the example here is truly special,” said Jim Wolf, Director of Fine Timepieces at Heritage Auctions. “Cartier mystery clocks require the skills of expert watchmakers as well as designers and lapidary artisans. The result is a magical work of art; these are singular creations of museum quality.?
As a complement to the mystery clock, Heritage Auctions is offering another rarity by Cartier, a four dial lamp form desk clock from the Art Deco era estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. The clock comes directly from the Collection of the American Red Cross, which Heritage is honored to be offering selections from across a number of its auctions throughout the next year.
Rolex collectors are well known to be a discriminating bunch, so many will take pleasant note of the presence of an extremely rare green enameled dial reference 6101, a classic gold wristwatch from the company, manufactured in 1951 and estimated at $35,000 to $45,000.
?This is an exceptionally rare Rolex,” said Wolf. ?Enameled dials were experimental and very few actually ended up on the market. The blue versions of the rare 6101 enamel dial watches surface occasionally but we almost never see examples in green. They’re scarce in the truest sense of the word.”
If one superb example is not enough for Rolex collectors, then they will quickly turn to another highly collectible vintage Rolex in the form of a 1970s reference 6263 Daytona, estimated at $15,000 to $20,000, a sleek cosmography sure to be an important addition to an astute buyer’s collection.
The Heritage auction will also feature a wide array of complicated and repeating pocket watches, including an exceptional Patek Philippe minute repeater with split seconds chronograph and register, estimated at $35,000 to $38,000.
Modern horology has taken the high art of watchmaking to heights that designers of old could not even conceive of. Using the technological advances available to them, modern makers of high end watches like F.P. Journe and Martin Braun are able to calculate “true time” based on the mathematical principles unknown to makers even a few generations ago. The result is both dazzling and genius, as shown by a very fine and rare Journe platinum Octa Automatic Lune Chronometer No. 051-AL, circa 2007 (estimated at $30,000-$35,000) and an outstanding collection of 18 watches by the award winning Braun, including his Astraio s model, estimated at $15,000 to $18,000.
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world?s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $700 million, and 475,000+ registered online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HA.com
