Bought this watch in auction 10 days ago without having seen it “in the flesh”. I spent 3000 GBP and was afterwards afraid that I had gone too high. Now that I have received it, I am pleasantly surprised, and I feel I must post some photos for posterity It has a “trench” minute track or “rail track” dial and an English bracelet like the one shown in this 1963 UK brochure and mentioned on page 9 of @mondodec’s essay on Constellation cases. The bracelet reveals itself to have been made by David Schackman & Sons (DS&S) and has indeed some presence. Most importantly, it is removable, so that you can wear the watch on a leather strap. The dial is the most impressive feature in my mind, and the case (which bears Swiss hallmarks) is exceptionally sharp. I haven’t opened it though, so I can only surmise that it’s a 14381 with a 551 inside (though the case is very thin, could it possibly be a 7xx movement?). I’m sending it to Christian (http://watchguy.co.uk/) for a service and I’ll post some of the pictures of the inside that he’ll take. Here’s the photos, the first comes from the auction house, the rest are mine:
Well, it certainly can't be a 700-series movt and you should be correct with the cal 551. These dials are notorious for degrading and so being tampered with but you have a mirrored track and a grained dial - if it's correct then £3,000 for a gold connie with a rail track dial in that condition and an 18k gold bracelet is a bit of a bargain. (was that hammer price or all-in?) Check the hallmarks to see when the bracelet was produced -there should be a date letter somewhere - it should give you an idea if they were sold together. The watch does look pretty splendid -congratulations.
@Peemacgee: You must be right, it couldn't be a 700-series, really. Hammer price was 2400, with premium etc. 3033.60 GBP. As to the bracelet, there are only two hallmarks on it, on both clasp ends: The crown hallmark as the traditional fineness symbol for gold and the 18 hallmark for the actual fineness, there is no letter. I suppose that at the time bracelets were exempt from official hallmarks, otherwise the assay office mark should have been there. I found another example in this thread. This is the other bracelet end:
Nice But Shouldnt the bracelet also have UK hallmarks for both the the assay offfice mark, and a date letter?
If it's pre the UK hallmarking Act 1973, stamping a full hallmark with assay office location and date stamp wasn't a legal requirement, so it not uncommon just to see the makers mark (DS&S), metal type (crown for gold) and the purity (18). A simple "18ct" stamp was also commonplace. The above stamp looks completely legit.
Most of the time I don’t care for the 3rd party produced gold bracelets but that one is exceptionally nice and has a neat provenance to it... and the dial is in exceptional shape. That’s a great catch!
Wow! That observatory and stars! I really like that dial and only recently learned that dial existed.
Fantastic watch and very nice bracelet. I hope it fits you as that type of clasp is very unforgiving of wrist sizes. But I think the watch was just about worth the full price which would mean you got the bracelet free.
Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments. @Edward53: Sadly the bracelet does not fit my small wrist at all, with the watch it has a length of 20cm. But that's OK with me, I have a spare 18k buckle from the 60s left so I'll put the watch on a leather strap. Also, less bling