The Bogart 14k Gold Gruen Watch

Well it's taken sometime to put a post together about this watch so here goes...( I may have some exact dates wrong, but please ask any questions)

I'm a private collector of watches, especially the Speedmasters, I love the obscure, I love history, I used to work in Films, TV, Music and Theatre I did the lights (hence the connection to this watch). I spend a lot of my time researching and finding my watches as we all do. This watch was given to Humphrey Bogart by his mistress Verita Thompson.

I found this listed on ebay.com under "Film and TV Props"


The listing was worded "watch was once offered to Humphrey Bogart" it was really quite ambiguous and the whole listing was a worded a little awkwardly, I read it over and over, the picture was awful and I just had to do a little digging around on Google, the one picture of the watch in the listing was one taken directly from Google of the first public Auction that this watch went through in New York 2008 (The Pugliese Collection) the listings wording was the description from the second public Auction with Artcurial in Monaco in 2012.. non of these Auctions saw any high sales figures and I think the watch was very much under the radar or a sleeper and when you start to look at watches with a connection to famous people there are a lot given as gifts especially in Hollywood.. but this Gruen was more than a wrap party gift.

The wording for the Artcurial Auction was in French as a first language but someone must have used a "translate" so copy and paste the description and sometimes the word "Gift" comes out as "Offered" and that would explain the awkward wording in the Ebay listing (well in my mind anyway).. so I asked a question on the listing, It turns out the seller is the original purchaser from the Artcurial Auction in 2012 and he is an Italian Doctor that lives in Monaco, he was a busy chap and must have copied and pasted the Pic and the description for the listing and placed it in "Film and TV props" category rather than "Watches" he also was very much into high end collectors cars 1930s Bugattis and Bentleys worth millions and that was his main hobby, he bought the Gruen and another watch at the Artcurial Auction as he was "just there" !

After a few messages where exchanged, we came up with a deal that would secure it for me, and a few weeks later it arrived with all the provenance he thought he had lost.

So how did Humphrey Bogart end up with this watch,?

In 1942 the Casablanca had just finished shooting and in the Film and TV industry there is often a drinks party to celebrate the long hours and hard work the cast and crew have put in, many friends and family of crew members get to meet the stars. Verita (Vera) Thompson (A Hollywood studio hair dresser) was invited to the Casablanca Wrap party where she met Bogart and "danced all night" (Google will help you out here, as well as Vera's book "Bogie and Me") ...This whole story is wonderful and is worthy of a Film all of it's own this relationship lasted on and off even though he married Lauren Bacall and right up till Bogart's death from Cancer in 1957.

Bogart had a liking for watches, he often wore his own personal watches in his films, we all must know about the Longines Evadenza he wore in Casablanca which is now at the Longines museum, he owned a few Gruen's as these were seen as the top watches at the time. I had researched that he may have worn this watch in the film "Beat the Devil" and it's also been mentioned as such in a documentary on youtube but more research required. Vera must have gifted him the watch sometime after the affair began and I'm sure it would have cost her a lot of money back then and maybe it was even second hand or just old new stock as far as I can date it to 1925 but with the war on at that time who knows ... Vera had the case back engraved "To Bogie, Love Vera" I think Bogart kept the watch on his boat the Santana right up to his death as he asked Vera to remove her belongings from the Satana just before his died.

I have redacted some of the documents but please see "some" of the info below. Thank you all Adrain

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This is part of the list of Bogart's personal items that were sold in 1997 the Gruen was part of this lot.





This is from the 2012 auction of the Gruen

Yes it's keeping good time for nearly 100 years old

This is a really great story. I am glad you got it back from that web person.

Me too.

It's a small watch about 29mm

Small-scale pantographic engraving machines go back to the middle of the 19th century at least. They must have been motorized by the early 20th century.

We have a hand-operated Hermes machine at work that we use for one-off metal or plastic equipment labels and a slightly shaky hand will result in the effect one sees in the T and the two Os and G in the upper engraving on the subject watch.

That said, I am not meaning to comment on the authenticity or provenance of the subject watch. I'm merely suggesting that the engraving quality is unsurprising, at least to me.

I think this watch generates more questions than answers and these are the questions that need to be asked. Google will give you some of the answers.

Victor Roundtree was Vera's partner for the rest of her later life, before Victor passed away he and Vera sold Bogart's personal items in 1997. This Gruen watch was part of this sale.

Another very interesting wrist watch story !
Only on OF we can read & enjoy these bits of sleuthing, be it spaceflown, military, sports, celebrity or historical wrist watches 👍

It's an intresting hobby, one becomes attached to the watches though research and stories.

The Google hole is just massive, I continue to research every aspect and the people involved in this story. As has been said in some of the paperwork I have on this watch, the Vera and Bogart story needs telling, I have a copy of her book about the affair "Bogie and Me" full of storys and adventures.