Pocket Watch Estimated at $40K-$60K Brings $242,500
When the hammer came down on lot 79 at Christie’s December 14 New York auction, an unassuming Patek Philippe pocket watch with a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 had reached $242,500. The watch, manufactured in 1913, received a Geneva Observatory rating certificate in 1920 and was delivered to its American retailer in 1921. In 1925, it was purchased by American super-collector Henry Graves. The 50mm diameter watch with enamel dial has hours, minutes, subsidiary seconds, and an up-down or power reserve indication.According to Christie’s sale notes, no one knows for sure how many watches Mr. Graves ordered from Patek Philippe, however it is understood that he commissioned approximately 30 timepieces in all. To date there are 15 known watches owned by Mr. Graves, and this piece brings the number to 16. The watch is engraved with the Graves family crest and motto Esse Quam Videri – To Be Rather Than to Seem.A modern Breguet also generated an excellent result. Lot 3

Konstantin Chaykin Genius Temporis Single Hand Watch With A Twist
This is Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin's latest timepiece, and they call it the Genius Temporis, which roughly translates from Latin to "the spirit of our time." That, however, doesn't particularly explain the functionality of this 16th century-style timepiece. What you have is the simple elegance of a single-handed watch with the ability to also know the minutes (on demand) when the wearer chooses.Single-handed watches are not particularly common, but they are popular among certain watch lovers. Long ago, it used to be that pocket watches only had one hand. That was mainly because they were simply not accurate enough to even display the minutes. There was a time when being accurate to 30 minutes a day was pretty good. The inclusion of a minute hand a few hundred years ago was a big deal, and really ushered in the era of modern timekeeping. Today, single-handed watches are less about considering the past, and more about the unique way you can conceive the day through the way tha

URWERK Black Cobra Watch: Can Comics Sell Luxury Watches?
While it is hard to give proper credit, Linde Werdelin is the first luxury watch brand that I know of that employed the use of comics (ahem, graphic novels) to sell high-end timepieces. They still do that, and certainly are going to carry that idea into the future. UPDATE: I just learned that I had it wrong. Linde Werdelin might have been the first to disseminate marketing comic imagery online (that I know of), but Urwerk had published comic content as far back as 2008 (republished here - thanks Ian).Now luxury brand Urwerk offers a new comic strip (see below to check it out). I think the idea is brilliant. Why has it taken until modern times to do this? Because stuffy people in luxury watch company's were afraid of diluting the "prestige" of their brands with dirty comic book. Pshwhat is this? 1986? Comic art has defined?? much of the last generation. What do you think rich people under 35 are going to associate with more positively. Cool graphic novel imagery for a new watch, or spon

Speedy Pro in Chicago
Just not mine...A nice discovery, while at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably the last...
So, the next watch will probably be the last that I'll be able to sell to my wife. I'm thinking classic Rolex tool watch, either Sub or GMT. I won't pretend that either are needed or will be in anyway useful as I don't dive and I am able to compute the time difference to Beijing in my head. But I love watches...the history, craftsmanship and ingenuity astound me...plus they look great. This is most of the current collection:What do you all think makes sense? What am I not considering? I'm open to suggestions, max $9k.