Beautiful watches come up every now and then, the recent 37mm platinum and diamond dial 30T2RG chronometer that sold in the last year for six figures is a great example, but you really don't see too many Cloisonne dials come up for sale. The Constellation observatory Cloisonne is probably the better known of these amazing 1950s pieces but this chronometer rated Seamaster bumper Cal 354 is no less impressive in its design and craftsmanship. Christies are estimating a price between 60,000CHF and 100,000CHF, which could be interesting to watch given the tremendous gravity and inertia behind pricing on top tier rare Omega vintage pieces from the 1950s at present.

The watch comes up for auction on the 12th of November at Christies Geneve, so we're a month away from seeing the hammer price, in the mean time, its a beautiful piece to appreciate






From Christies:

 

And for the record, unlike Paul Newman Daytonas and Double Red Seadwellers, this is a watch that actually does earn and deserve the word "Rare"

 

The last one of these did very well - within the present estimate range. I wonder if this will break $100,000 in value. A true rare specimen which will only go up in value going forward.

 

All the Christies estimates on these upper end Omegas have turned out to be conservative of late so I'm thinking its entirely possible 100K could be broken. I'm just hoping one day we end up with a member or two owning some pieces like these, would be great to see in the WRUW thread from time to time

 

BTW , this watch does not just merely depict "Neptune on his Chariot pulled by Seahorses". But these Seahorses, also known as Hippocampus, are the often represented "Cavali" (horses) on the Italian gondolas of Venice. It is from these gondola ornamental rope ties that Omega took the image that represents the Seamaster line to this day. Hence the image selection for this Cloisonne.
The first image in this sequence is from my personal Cavali collection.

 

Now that I didn't know lol

 

So... Nelly Richard of Stern Freres did most of the best Cloisonne work for Omega Rolex and Patek in the 40s and 50s, but I didn't realise she recycled artwork across brands like this:

 

This sort of thing is not as unusual as you think - how many versions of Rodin's the Thinker are there? At last count about 20 original castings and many other different versions. Painters can be the same way making multiple versions of the same painting in different sizes.

 

Interesting article from Christies:

http://blogs.christies.com/longitud...for-grabs-at-christies-november-12th-auction/

 

BIG Sale Price!

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...2529&sid=6b9e394b-bc54-474b-80f6-eb0ead3c8579

Hammer price was:

• 
  CHF243,000
• ($258,016)

Up from an estimate of:

• 
  CHF60,000 - CHF100,000
• ($63,708 - $106,179)

This item took a VERY long time to sell, so it sounds very much like a bidding war took this piece to a new height for a Cloisonne dial Seamaster.

 

I think it is prices like this that show that truly vintage omegas have arrived.

 

Very nice . Lovely artistry.

 

Very nice . Lovely eloquence.

 

If they keep arriving like this one just did we're all going to have to start learning vintage Longines in a hurry.

 

As a point of reference, here's one of the other Neptunes at Antiquorum in 2009:

http://catalog.antiquorum.com/catalog.html?action=load&lotid=349&auctionid=222

Hammer price was 66,000 Swiss francs including buyer's premium, roughly one quarter of this latest one.

 

Classic threads of yesteryears