How Jeff Stein ended up with 3 watches formerly owned by astronaut John Glenn

jaspers · Dec 6, 2019

Wonderful article on Hodinkee about how mr. Heuer Jeff Stein chased watches out of John Glenn's estate that had flown completely under the radar (pun intended).

What I like about this article is (1) in the age of ubiquitous information there are still easter eggs out there for those that are patient and inquisitive; (2) there still is a lot of valuable authenticating to do in the watch world; (3) there's people like Jeff Stein who are kind enough to document their search and purchase behavior, including the messiness of it all. Highly recommended reading!

Larry S · Dec 6, 2019

Love all three ... the Hamilton is amazing.

jaspers · Dec 6, 2019

Larry S
the Hamilton is amazing.

Somehow the image of a watch with cathedral hands on the wrist of a Marine makes me chuckle a little. It seems at odds with the general no-nonsense, clean-cut, form-follows-function appeal of the USMC, where any frivolities are beaten out of every recruit.

shishy · Dec 6, 2019

Also see: https://www.mwrforum.net/forums/sho...oultre-Military-Style-True-24-Hour-Indication

watchknut · Dec 6, 2019

All thanks to me...

diggin5 · Dec 6, 2019

So, having attended the John Glenn estate sale myself, I can confirm the Hamilton and the Le Coulture watches were in fact there. I was very close to buying both, as well as the ladies Datejust engraved for Annie Glenn. I'm very glad these wound up in the right hands.

Syrte · Dec 7, 2019

Fantastic read and amazing story, thanks for posting the link.
What I love about it is not only the passion for the research, but it also it shows the power of hype and the power of not following the hype. All of the people just running for what everyone else wants— and then watches pretty much going under the radar, ripe for the picking by someone (intelligent) who looks beyond the hype and starts digging.

@diggin5 were they expensive?

diggin5 · Dec 7, 2019

@Syrte I don't recall the exact number, but they were asking at least $1,500 for the Hamilton, I don't recall for the Le Coulture. It wasn't too bad considering the possible history, but I wasn't going to plunk down without doing my own research. I'm glad someone did and now appreciates them.

Syrte · Dec 7, 2019

$1500 is an extreme price for a Hamilton like this so clearly there was a significant premium placed on provenance. The LeCoultre could not have been cheap although at the end of the day and with all those unbelievable pictures it is an amazing treasure.

diggin5 · Dec 7, 2019

That's what I thought at the time, and it was pretty beat up. No one at the house had any history on them or specific provenance, other than they were in the home when they opened the doors to sell everything. Literally... everything. You could buy his socks and toothpaste. It was actually a little sad, and I left without buying anything at all because it felt disrespectful after about an hour.

jaspers · Dec 7, 2019

diggin5
That's what I thought at the time, and it was pretty beat up. No one at the house had any history on them or specific provenance, other than they were in the home when they opened the doors to sell everything. Literally... everything. You could buy his socks and toothpaste. It was actually a little sad, and I left without buying anything at all because it felt disrespectful after about an hour.

I can imagine. How can that happen to someone of such stature? Americans are usually so great an honoring their heroes. No immediate or only estranged relatives? Did the proceeds at least go to some charity in his name?

Fritz · Dec 7, 2019

jaspers
Somehow the image of a watch with cathedral hands on the wrist of a Marine makes me chuckle a little. It seems at odds with the general no-nonsense, clean-cut, form-follows-function appeal of the USMC, where any frivolities are beaten out of every recruit.

Don’t think of those hands as frivolities.

think of them as a marine’s way of getting as much radium on the hands as possible so it functions better at night.
They were simply the best available for the job.

jaspers · Dec 7, 2019

Fritz
think of them as a marine’s way of getting as much radium on the hands as possible so it functions better at night.
They were simply the best available for the job.

Yeah, but you'd pick sword hands for that, right? That would allow for one big slab of lume, rather than applying lume in between the metal ornaments of cathedral hands. See what I mean?

Syrte · Dec 7, 2019

diggin5
That's what I thought at the time, and it was pretty beat up. No one at the house had any history on them or specific provenance, other than they were in the home when they opened the doors to sell everything. Literally... everything. You could buy his socks and toothpaste. It was actually a little sad, and I left without buying anything at all because it felt disrespectful after about an hour.

Totally understand. It clearly took a special fascination for John Glenn and also the benefit of having a reprieve to do research (albeit an intense one) after the sale ended with the watches unsold.
Interestingly and with the peculiar story he uncovered the LeCoultre now seems much more valuable than the ones now being offered at Phillips!

watchknut · Dec 7, 2019

diggin5
@Syrte I don't recall the exact number, but they were asking at least $1,500 for the Hamilton, I don't recall for the Le Coulture. It wasn't too bad considering the possible history, but I wasn't going to plunk down without doing my own research. I'm glad someone did and now appreciates them.

We had the same mindset sir!

Lazy_Lightning · Dec 11, 2019

The Breitling 809 owned by John Glenn sold for an astonishing $156k. The Marlon Brando Rolex went for $1.9 MM.

https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/NY080119

jaspers · Dec 11, 2019

Lazy_Lightning
The Breitling 809 owned by John Glenn sold for an astonishing $156k. The Marlon Brando Rolex went for $1.9 MM.

https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/NY080119

someone made a nice profit on that Cosmonaute. I couldn’t find auction records for Breitling, but this one must have been up there. Hope it’s in the hands now of someone who really cherishes it as the piece of horological history that it is.

CaptainWinsor · Dec 11, 2019

diggin5
That's what I thought at the time, and it was pretty beat up. No one at the house had any history on them or specific provenance, other than they were in the home when they opened the doors to sell everything. Literally... everything. You could buy his socks and toothpaste. It was actually a little sad, and I left without buying anything at all because it felt disrespectful after about an hour.

I understand your feelings. I’ve been to a few estate sales where everything is for sale. I was rummaging through a desk and saw old pics of the home owner with presumably children, friends and it struck me how no one there cared about the person, just what could buy to sell.

JwRosenthal · Dec 12, 2019

I’ve been to a few estate sales that left me with the sick and sad feeling of loss and loneliness. I used to actively collect records and record collections can tell you much about a person’s tastes and personality. I usually cherry pick like most, but there was one collection in particular that I felt was so well curated that I bought the entire lot as the thought of breaking up this persons life’s collection just felt wrong. They had newspaper articles about the recordings and hand written notes about their perceptions and thoughts about the music -slipped into the jackets. He truly loved his music and listened intently. I came to find through his notes that his name was Kent, and I still have 90% of Kent’s records in my collection and they are still loved- I feel a nice tribute to Kent.

jsducote · Dec 12, 2019

My father has a collection of first-day covers (related to stamp collecting) that he worked very hard to put together. Unfortunately it doesn't particularly interest me but I can't bring myself to break it up when he passes (not yet).