Judging by Bonhams’ Fine Watches sale held in New Bond Street, London on 13 December rare and collectable Cartier watches continue to be sought after. Three such examples at Bonhams’ sale included a Cartier Crash from 1991, Maxi Oval dated to 1969, and a Tank Normale from circa 1921.
Cartier Crash wristwatch, 1991 Paris Boutique version and one of just 400 pieces sells for £216,300 including buyer’s premium. © Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
Of the three it was the uniquely distinctive Cartier Crash that took the prize for highest sale value on the day and indeed for the whole auction selling for £216,300 including buyer’s premium. The Cartier Crash wristwatch has gained tremendous collector attention over recent years with the ultra-rare original London version from the late sixties the most treasured. This watch was a later Cartier Paris boutique 1991 version of just 400 pieces, but still of great interest to collectors. The watch has an 18K gold case sixed at 24mm x 39mm and is manual wind with a sapphire set crown. The auction estimate was £80,000 – £120,000.
Extremely rare Cartier Maxi Oval wristwatch from Cartier’s London workshops in the 1960’s makes £114,700 including buyer’s premium at auction. © Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
The extremely rare Cartier Maxi Oval 18K gold manual wind wristwatch did however come from Cartier’s London workshops complete with a hallmark for 1969. This makes the watch part of a small group of now highly collectable designs created under the direction of Jean-Jacques Cartier. The watch is sized at 21mm x 50mm and has an elongated curved oval form. The movement is by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Estimated at £80,000 to £120,000 the watch sold for £114,700 including buyer’s premium.
Rare early production Cartier Tank Normale from circa 1921 auctions for £28,160 including buyer’s premium. © Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
The third of the three selling Cartier’s was equally interesting being a Cartier Tank Normale 18K gold manual wind wristwatch from circa 1921. The date makes this Cartier a rare early production watch of the now iconic Tank design based on military tanks of World War 1. As Bonhams recorded the Tank Normale model was the original Tank, designed in 1917 by Louis Cartier and produced from 1919. It is estimated that approximately 40 were made in 1921, each hand made. The watch carried an auction estimate of £8,000 – 12,000 and sold on the day for £28,160 including buyer’s premium.
Patek Philippe, Golden Ellipse, Ref: 3619, from circa 1976 with ‘sigma’ dial, diamond set hour markers, and dual time zone hands makes £95,650 including buyer’s premium. © Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
Overall, the auction while on the smaller size with 52 lots had a range of very high-quality watches. Surprising however the star of the sale a George Daniels, Millennium wristwatch equipped with Daniels’ famed Co-Axial escapement from 1999 did not sell. The watch was estimated at £400,000 - £600,000. While you almost expect watches with this important pedigree to sell it was not to be on this occasion.
Finally, and again for fans of 60s and 70s watch design, a rare Patek Philippe, Golden Ellipse, Ref: 3619, from circa 1976 sold for £95,650 including buyer’s premium. Launched in 1968, Patek Philippe’s Ellipse introduced its distinctive elliptical case with design inspiration taken from the classical arts ‘golden ratio’ formula. Bonhams catalogued that ‘the reference 3619 is one of the rarest modern complicated watches from Patek Philippe. Introduced in the 1970's, and sold for approximately 10 years, it is believed that no more than 50 pieces were made in total’. The watch is a manual wind, with a 36mm 18K white gold case, black dial ‘sigma’ dial, diamond set hour markers, and most noticeably three hands with the hand for dual time distinguishable by a luminous insert.
