I think I paid $6K and 8K for my Annapolis. They were only made in 1937.
An extremely rare watch of which only a few have shown up on the internet.
It was over 10 years between the first one I saw on Wannabuyawatch.com and when I bought my first one.
The Annapolis Weems are so rare it was unknown that the dials were actually made by Longines until I asked Jennifer Bochud to help me look into the origins. At the 2019 Collectors meeting, Longines demonstrated the capabilities of the new LEA system. At that time we found the notes on the dial and the original factory photos. The watch is really rare.
it was at the 2019 Collectors meeting that Longines was demonstrating the LEA system that was newly developed with the help of a Swiss university. Up until then, it was unknown who made the Annapolis dials. I asked Jennifer Bochud to help me uncover the origins. With the LEA system, we found the original factory notes not in the main registers but in other archive books that had never been seen before. Jennifer and I proved to the world that Longines made the dials and we found the original factory photos and hand written notes. The Annapolis dials was only made in 1937. They are extremely rare, the gilt one is the rarest version of the two known types.
There is that old saying that some people would not know a collectable even if it bit them.
Almost exactly a year later, David w154 from OF and MWR discovered that my co-worker's Mr Alonso brother was selling a gilt Annapolis which was a grail watch for me.
Amazing Naval Academy wrist watches, makes us think about the Gemini astronauts with a Naval Academy background, Schirra, Lovell and Stafford, who in 1966 were gifted a Rolex GMT-master 1675 with Naval Academy crest on the dial.
Full story:
The NASA astronauts' Rolex GMT-master pilot watches story continues....
Follow-on about the US Naval Academy crest Rolex GMT-master 1675 pilot watches as pointed out by TLIGuy in 2019:
In 1966, shortly after the Gemini VIa and VII missions, astronauts with an US Navy background where gifted a Rolex GMT-master 1675 during a ceremony at the Naval Academy Annapolis Maryland.
These were Walter "Wally" Schirra (class 1945), James "Jim" Lovell (class 1952) and Thomas "Tom" Stafford (class 1952) !
In fact, in 1966, Walter Schirra was promoted to Captain and it's interesting to see...