Gardiner Houlgate’s latest watch auction was another demonstration that demand for quality watches with interesting provenance or scarcity is as strong as ever.
A limited Rolex Explorer II from 2012 might not ordinarily have caught collectors’ eyes.
But the watches were a special commission for 22 members of the SAS, which sparked enough competition between bidders to see the price soar to £40,448, including fees.
The Special Air Service motto “Who Dares Wins” is engraved on the case band while the back displays the SAS logo, a knife with wings, matched by a personal serial number bearing the original owner’s initials.
True scarcity was the selling point for a Heuer Skipper wristwatch, which hammered for £37,920, including fees.
Heuer Skipperera
The Skipper Carrera nicknamed the ‘Skipperera’ was designed and inspired by the 1967 America’s Cup winner, ‘The Intrepid’ for which Heuer was the official timekeepers.
The brand provided a full range of equipment for team Intrepid, including stopwatches, Navia waterproof clocks, and Aquastar chronographs and to commemorate the win, Jack Heuer commissioned the 7754 in the racing team’s colours (based on the 7753), which today remains one of the brand’s rarest watches with potentially fewer than 30 examples known to exist.
