To a degree, one thing I like about vintage watch collecting community is that for some reason our individual sentimental connection to watches causes us to better notice even un-famous people who wore them. A submariner owned by a Navy diver? A 24hr pilot’s watch worn by a career helicopter pilot? A 3-hander bought for a 50th wedding anniversary? My grandfather’s datejust? Conversely, I find it a little harder to get similarly stirred by a “famous” person’s watch.
This watch is owned by the 5th great grandson of the second president of the United States, John Adams.
I don’t have watches with specific provenance or links to known people who did things with them. Even though Seiji I admire the research you put into some of those inscriptions before you bid on your watches, I’m personally satisfied when a watch is a tool that establishes something interesting about the history of human undertakings. I am more interested in history as a collective undertaking. So for me, my historic watches are the Le Coultre Weems A11 which dates back to 1940 and to a time the US was preparing for war even though it had not yet entered WWII; Or a relatively rare early 1913 Longines central second with markings indicating it was retailed by Dent, the maker of Big Ben. Or my 1942 Omega Royal Air Force pilot watch - the year kind of says it all.
PS or even, I should add, this little clamshell case which looks almost brand new despite being something like 80 years old— because of the technical achievements involved in making strong water resistant tools for time-keeping, even for women. As a matter of fact I consider all of my 1940s ladies steel watches with watertight cases to be historic watches because they reveal the extent to which women had become consumers deserving of consideration, involved in sports, aviation and the workplace. It is one of the most significant historic events of the past 110 years, and the anonymous watch and the marketing catalogs tell that story much more powerfully than the story of a single person. Not to mention the small Longines Weems which was marketed to women aviatrixes and navigatrixes.
I like tool watches too. The fully hermetic Longines is the only one of it's kind I think I have ever seen. It is common to see Rolex, Eberhard, IWC, and a few others use this type of case. For some reason, Longines did not make many and so this watch is ultra rare for Longines. This is the first waterproof Longines. Finger's 1921 design. Unknown if this is the last one in existence, but no other have shown up in 10 years. I have a couple of US Army Air Corps issued weems. My other big pilots are German, Italian, and Dutch government or military procurements. https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/waterproof.php#first
I have this Enicar Super Graph that was used by Swiss Shooter Hans Simonet at Olympia 1964 in Tokyo. More about it here: https://enicar101.com/2020/12/18/enicar-super-graph-simonet/ Its not Bogarts watch, but for me as an Enicar collector more important
Not famous or historic, but interesting. Longines survived D-Day invasion Lt. Col Harold Burton Lee. Researcher into human endurance, research directly contributed to Mexico Olympics British Athlete Training. Some interactions with the 53 Everest team. He was in WW2 from start to VE-Day and left the military after 1968. He was with the Mobile Field Hospital "Field Ambulance 140" for the entire duration.
I don’t know the history for my 1942 Omega RAF pilots watch…but I am paying it respect and slowly giving it the full nostalgia tour as it keeps on ticking…. .
Not really famous, but somewhat historic. I have this Enicar Mark Ia given to Bengt Ohrelius by Enicar and later passed on to his daughter who had it until she decided to put it up for auction last year: Nico did a write-up on it here: https://enicar101.com/2021/02/20/swedens-apollo-program-the-salvage-of-the-kings-ship-vasa-in-1961/