Fall has arrived, and do you know what that means? Auction season has once again returned to New York City. Today, Antiquorum will be conducting their annual Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces auction here in Manhattan. Not only is 2014 a very special year for this famed auction house, as they reach their 40th anniversary, but this specific sale is very special for Antiquorum as well. Why? Because among the great highlights are Philippe Cousteau's (son of Jacques Cousteau) 1665 Seadweller, a Patek Philippe 5004P with a black dial, a Patek Philippe 3979 in white gold, and [of course] a Paul Newman 6239.
Read MoreIt's hard not to love vintage watches. You can spend $200,000 on a hyper-rare Paul Newman Daytona or $200 on a Vietnam-era Benrus and still get a great vintage piece. But every once in a while, your exciting find may end up costing more than you bargained for.
Read MoreWithout a doubt, I can surely say I’ve got a keen eye for watches of merit. Today, at Christie’s, I tried on everything from a steel ‘72 Daytona with a once black dial that had wondrously aged into a rich deep-brown tone, to an oddly shaped Serpico y Laino signed Patek that I, honestly, did not even know existed. These watches may break sale records, along with a couple dozen more, but the quality of a wristwatch does not hinge on the number of digits you have to write out in your checkbook to acquire that piece. Naturally, I wandered over to the “no reserve” case to get a sense of what was being offered to guys like me who, let’s just say, haven’t the luxury of throwing down a stack of cash on a new addition to their collection. In this “no reserve” case were some pretty astonishing watches that I would never expect to see...
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