Looking in the Classic Driver Marketplace we found a tonneau-shaped gold watch, a wooden motor boat for days out exploring Long Island Sound, and many extravagant cars, all long of bonnet and rich in leather, inch-thick paintwork and chrome.
And if you can pop some bearer bonds next to that crisp white handkerchief in your breast pocket, so much the better.
It might sound an incredible story, but it’s true. A few years ago someone bought a strapless, rather tired vintage Breitling, a ‘Top Time’ model, for just £25.00. This could well be the best £25.00 ever spent, as the timepiece turned out to be the first watch modified by MI6’s Q Department (for the film, that is, we’re sorry to tell you that James Bond does not really exist) and it featured a Geiger counter. It now carries an estimate of £40,000 to £60,000.
The caseback of the watch will be engraved with the crest of the annual Concorso, while on the rotating city ring ‘Berlin’ has been replaced by ‘Como’, the provincial capital of the Lake Como region representing Central European Time.
The company was founded in 1995 by brothers Felix and Thomas Baumgartner, in partnership with their friend Martin Frei, an artist and designer. The trio wanted to break the mould of typical round case/round dial watches with traditional hands. Having produced their first piece in 1997 (the UR-101), it was in 2003 that Urwerk made the UR-103, a four-dialled watch with hours indicated by one of the four rotating dials in analogue and digital displays, and minutes by the precise position of one dial as it arcs across the minute chapter.
The tourbillon mechanism was invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet at the turn of the 18th Century. Its aim is to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage. Thus it negates the effect of gravity when the timepiece (and its escapement) is stuck in a certain position. So now you know.
In the early 70s, Heuer presented the ‘Easy-Rider’ collection as an affordable range aimed at the sort of buyers who might be tempted by a cheap Japanese watch, the entry level model costing a third of the price of a 'Carrera'. At the top of the range, though, was the 'Jacky Ickx', introduced in 1972 when the great Belgian was driving for Heuer-supported Ferrari in F1 and sports cars. It carries his signature on its face.
Thirty years ago, no one would have believed in the success of a non-repairable plastic watch from Switzerland. In the early 80s, the Swiss watch industry was dying, as elite, highly priced watches were proving unable to beat low-cost competition from Asia – and almost 100,000 jobs had been lost. In 1983, when the first Swatch was presented, it caused a scandal and widespread predictions that this signified the end of the Swiss watch industry.
“Mr Genta,” he said, “I need a steel sports watch that has never been done before: I want it to be something totally new and waterproof.” And, as if this challenge weren’t hard enough, draft sketches had to be submitted early the following day. Having completed an all-nighter at the drawing board, Genta presented what was to become the famous ‘Royal Oak’ first thing the next morning.