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A number of watch auctions took place in Geneva last week, Sotheby’s had one on Sunday the 14th and Christies on Monday the 15th. At least with the auction over at Sotheby’s on Monday, the world of collecting vintage Rolex watches has become a little bit crazier than it already was.
Estimated at 60,000 – 80,000 Swiss Francs, this ca.1969 Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona ref.6239 with discolored brown dial was hammered at 464,500 CHF (which is $469,809.24 USD at the time of writing).
A collector must have thought this Daytona was worth almost half a million dollars because of the discolored dial, the unusual dial print and the condition of the watch. The case and bracelet were (still) unpolished and therefore in original condition.
As with all vintage Rolex Oyster Cosmos, the movement is far from being interesting (based on a Valjoux 72) but it is mainly about condition, rarity and whether a watch comes complete with box and papers or not. Personally, I really love this brown dial with white sub-dials and red printed minute markers on the outside of the dial. It is one of the nicest Daytona dial combinations out there.
Like all vintage Daytona watches,wrist watch, this watch has a diameter of only 37mm. When you see a vintage Daytona for the first time, you might even overlook it when it is sitting in between its 40mm friends.
More information about this Sotheby’s lot 104 can be found here. On the Vintage Rolex Forum, you can find a report on the Geneva auction with lots of pictures (click here).
In a first for Watch Report, today's review is of the Orient CDD00001W0 pocket watch. As in the kind that you wear in your pocket, and have to wind every day. Updated with modern materials and movement, this is a new take on an old standard. Let's see how they did. First, the specifications:
This watch really surprised a lot of people when it appeared, myself included. Orient does very few pocket watches, and has never shipped a handwind-only movement before (given that a pocket watch is determinedly retro, an automatic seems less appropriate). From the looks of the perlage-decorated movement, Orient took one of their better automatics and removed the rotor, reversers, and winding bridge, simplifying a bit to produce the 3/4 plate design seen here. It's a nice looking movement.
When you first open the presentation case, a "wow" may well be the first reaction. The face is simply stunning. Orient, often quite good at well-balanced and classical designs, has outdone themselves this time. Blued Breguet hands, guilloche dial, applied hour markers, blue minute markers, upright Arabic numerals in a retro font, and the unobtrusive yet very useful power reserve subdial. Look at the hour markers in the close-up: they're pointed cones, and the minute marks are blue. Lovely!
Orient has done some upgrades to the classic design that enormously help its practicality. First off, the case is stainless steel: quite durable, and actually water resistant to 30m. It's not going to go swimming (which would be odd for a pocket watch), but if you get rained on, it'll survive. Secondly, the crystal is sapphire, which means it will be unscathed if it ends up in the same pocket as your keys or cell phone. This one is a key innovation,
In actual use, there are two more tangible improvements that increase its usefulness: the power reserve meter is a very useful reminder of when to wind, critical for those of us unused to hand-winding movements. The hacking seconds are also very nice for setting the correct time – just because its a pocket watch doesn't mean its inaccurate! 
Interestingly, the Orient is a bit smaller than vintage watches at 40mm. Most older ones are in the 50mm range. I have unusually large hands, so it sometimes feels a bit smaller than I expect, kind of the reverse of the big-watch trend of the past few years. Makes it fit better in coin pockets, though, so it's more practical in this size.
Not only do we have a review of two Orient watches today, they're also yours to win on on Twitter contest detailed below. What we have here are two versions of Orient's mechanical dress diver with automatic movements, day/date, dive bezels, and quickset day. The differences are in the style details, and overall appearance.
It's interesting to me to see how Orient evolved the look from the Mako to new Mako. They went from simple sword hands to an arrow design, increased the size and weight a bit, changed from a red second hand to a lume-tipped one, and enlarged the bezel font quite a bit. Also notice the button at two o'clock: this is a peculiarity of many automatic Orients that advances the day with a single push. On the Mako, the button has a collar screw lock; on the new Mako, it's a simple button but reduced in size and profile.
Bracelets are identical, though the new Mako is 2mm wider. This is my all-time-favorite style; the brushed-finish Oyster is simple, functional, and classic.
The Mako line is available in a variety of dial colors; Orient USA tells us that the blue-dialed Mako is their best selling watch. It's not hard to tell why: inexpensive, well made, functional, and quite legible. I rather like the '6/9/12' Arabics on the dial; very cool looking and a nice balance to the day and date at 3 o'clock.
I have a 7.5" wrist, and slightly prefer the fit of the new Mako, though both work pretty well in my opinion.