Gardiner Houlgate 2/22

[priamo]

A couple of quick ones > catalogue here

Lot 20
Omega 'United States Steel' automatic stainless steel wristwatch, circular silvered dial branded 'USS', applied baton markers, minute markers, date aperture and sweep centres seconds, Omega crown, the case inscribed 'United States Steel, Honors F.L. Price, For 40 Years of Loyal and Faithful Service, Nov. 1976', black leather strap with Omega buckle, 35mm
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** Omega box


Estimate
£600 - £800
Hammer
£680

Lot 40
Rare Tudor Prince Oysterdate Submariner 'Snowflake' stainless steel gentleman's wristwatch, reference no. 9411/0, serial no. 799xxx, circa 1973, black 'T Swiss T' dial marked '200m=660ft Submariner', blue 'ghost' bezel, screw down crown, Tudor Auto-Prince ETA 2784 17 jewel unadjusted movement, signed inside case back, Oyster bracelet, 42mm including crown guards.
Dial - good. Glass - quite heavily scratched

** During the brief war in June 1967 a number of ships were sunk or scuttled and mined making the Suez Canal impassable. To reopen the canal the Egyptian government requested assistance from the Royal Navy and in 1974 Lieut Cdr J E Thompson played a significant role in planning and executing the clearance of explosives and shipwrecks from the canal, for which he was awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.
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The Suez Canal Authority was equally impressed and in recognition of his work and as a token of their thanks the Suez Canal Authority presented Lieut Cdr J E Thompson with this Tudor Prince Oysterdate Submariner.
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Lieut Cdr J E Thompson clearly impressed as a few years later, the Egyptian government specifically requested that he lead a team to raise the third century AD Gate of Diocletian which was flooded when the Aswan high dam was completed in 1970.
Estimate
£3,000 - £5,000
Hammer
£6,300

[rw16610]

Two great watches! It seems like many companies back in the 60s and 70s gave Omega watches (or others) to mark significant milestones.

That Tudor has an amazing story behind it, wow. Albeit in rough shape, this would be very nice to own. I'm sure the auction house will provide documentation, but a conversation piece, indeed.

[priamo]

The 9411 on bobswatches is $10,495 on strap and bubbling across the dial. The GH 9411 is described as movement and crown functioning, hands good, mild swelling on bracelet (could be original but not noted as such). Case looks unpolished with "light surface marks" which adds to its appeal. Other than the glass this watch is described as good. No provenance was noted... Seems unusual. Seems the estimate should be about twice what it is... Which also seems unusual.

[rw16610]

priamo - Agreed, that's a bit strange. I'm not sure if this auction house is exactly like some of the others you've shared in the past. It could very well be a strategy used to attract more interest with regards to bidders. No idea if there's a reserve or not, but that low estimate would allude to a more reasonable chance, this might not be the case though but it'll likely sell for much more, especially with the story.

On the other hand, from the image I see above, it looks much worse for wear if you will than described. It's part of the character for this individual watch, but man oh man it looks rough. A good watchmaker could maybe do some light bracelet repair and clean it up a bit, while keeping it all original to the parts currently on it.

This is one of the very few cases where the bezel that's nearly faded entirely isn't off-putting, it aged well. I've seen this happen on much newer watches (from the mid 2000s) and in those instances, for those watches it didn't look nice.

It'll be interesting to see what this one ends up selling for. The good thing about the industry trend of reissued heritage models is these historically significant pieces can be worn as desired and replaced with a modern "beater" piece to continue providing that vintage appeal.

[priamo]

Auction Topper

Lot 38
Rare Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner stainless steel gentleman's bracelet watch with the 3-6-9 Explorer dial and pointed crown guard case, reference no. 5512, circa 1962, serial no. 831xxx, 'Swiss' black dial with luminous hour baton markers, outer minute track, quarter 3-6-9 Arabic numerals and gilt dial printing 'Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner 200-660FT Submariner', Mercedes hands with sweep centre seconds, Oyster case with revolving black calibrated bezel insert, pointed crown guards with screw-down crown, calibre 1530 26 jewel movement, the case inside back stamped '5512' and dated 'IV.62', reference 7206 rivetted Oyster bracelet with folding clasp dated '3.69', '80' end links, the case, dial and movement signed, bezel diameter 40mm
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** With Rolex green box

Hammer
£66,000

[rw16610]

Wow, I need to one day attend an auction so I can (hopefully) view these pieces in a museum setting of sorts prior to then being sold.

Albeit very expensive, if you look at the cost of exotic cars today, I would rather have a few pieces like these instead of something like an Aventador, as awesome as those are.