Vintage watches with real pedigree
The Watch Club in London's Old 社債 Street is unlike any other watch shop? -? all its pieces are 'vintage', and are coveted by its 顧客s for their amazing 支援する stories, as these eight watches show to みごたえのある 影響...
A Lange & Sohne 空中の 航海士's watch, 1940s, £25,000
Rolex Expolrer II SRR, £40,000
Audemars Piguet 'End Of Days', 1999, £40,000
Rolex Sea-Dweller Octopus, 2008, £70,000
1. Only a few of these 巨大(な)-sized A Lange & S?hne watches 生き残るd the war, thanks in no small part to the 成果/努力s of the RAF. The 大規模な timepiece - the 事例/患者ing 対策 more than two インチs - was 問題/発行するd to the Luftwaffe as a flight 器具, and was designed to be worn over the outside of a 飛行機で行くing 控訴. Even by the 基準s of today's megawatches, it's 抱擁する.
2. The 初期のs SRR stand for Special 偵察 連隊, a special-軍隊s 部隊 operating と一緒に the SAS that few people have even heard of. This special-版 Rolex made 排他的に for the 部隊 is 極端に sought-after - only 139 have been made and few have ever been sold. But they're never worn on active service - the regimental logo and number on the 支援する might blow the wearer's cover and 潜在的に 妥協 an 操作/手術.
3. This Audemars Pi
guet, created for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1999 occult 活動/戦闘 film End Of Days, 奮起させるd the 現在の 傾向 for all-黒人/ボイコット timepieces. The PVD-coated model was made 利用できる in a 限られた/立憲的な 版 of 500 (Schwarzenegger kept his), and these have been fought over by collectors ever since. The hi-tech PVD vapour 塗装, 一方/合間, has become a 中心的要素 of the 高級な watch 産業.
4. The 抱擁する asking price for Rolex's 2008 Sea-Dweller is 予定 to the fact that only 78 examples were made, for an エリート 部隊 of divers in the Italian 明言する/公表する Police, and the divers aren't supposed to sell them. The 部隊's logo, an octopus, is printed on the dial, and the 事例/患者 支援する is 特に inscribed. This was made for the 部隊's 50th 周年記念日 - and collectors are drooling over it.
Omega Seamaster Professional, 1970, £6,000
Patek Philippe Pagoda 5500, 1997, £17,500
Rolex Submariner 'James 社債' Ref 5510, 1958, £75,000
Panerai Luminor 1950, £20,000
5. Omega rather stiffly 主張するs that this is 簡単に the Seamaster Professional but everyone else knows this 独特の diver's watch as the PloProf - derived from plongeur professionnel, French for 'professional diver'. Jacques Cousteau wore the model on some of his dives - at the time, the waterproofing to a depth of 2,000ft was considered truly extreme. These days, of course, Rolex's Deepsea is waterproof to nearly 2.5 miles - many times deeper than anyone has ever dived before.
6. The mere について言及する of the 指名する Patek Philippe is usually enough to put a glint in watch collectors' 注目する,もくろむs, but this particular model is also a 限られた/立憲的な 版 - 限られた/立憲的な to the extent that the 道具s and dies used in its 生産/産物 were destroyed afterwards so no more could be made. It was created to 示す the 開始 of Patek's new watchmaking 施設 in Geneva, and is modelled after a Forties Patek, whose ゆらめくd design was 奮起させるd by the base of the Eiffel Tower. O
nly 1,100 pieces were made in yellow gold - and to show that it's the real 取引,協定, it comes with a commemorative silver coin.
7. James 社債 has sported a lot of classy timepieces over the years - we'll just forget his 悲惨な dalliance with Seiko 数字表示式のs in the Roger Moore 時代 - but he's rarely worn anything cooler than the scuba-diver's Rolex Submariner he wears in Dr No. This is the same model, as you can tell from the extra-large winding 栄冠を与える and the absence of the 栄冠を与える guards which appear on later 見解/翻訳/版s.
8. These days you're most likely to see a Panerai on the wrist of a Hollywood actor or sharp-ふさわしい 実業家. 支援する in the Fifties, though, the 会社/堅い designed watches 排他的に for the Italian 海軍, which has 確実にするd there's a 抱擁する and geeky collectors' market for these hard-to-find timepieces. Inside the model is a movement made by Rolex - a 関係 that lasted for 10年間s.?
All watches by watchclub.com, 28 Old 社債 Street, London W1 (020 7495 4882)