By special instruction, at the end of the auction a raffle will take place for this lot. The entrants will be taken from all buyers of the watches from the single owner collection, as per Chris's wishes.

The winner will receive this unique Rolex Spoon made by Bucherer, which was later converted into a money clip, along with the watch they have purchased. Free postage will be offered for both. Good Luck!

THE COLLECTION OF “THE NOT-QUITE-DEAD-YET” FILM PRODUCER CHRIS - PART 1

Chris’s love for watches goes back to the time when he was in his teens; his first watch was a 1970’s Seiko Quartz LC, and he still has it beside his bedside.

In the 80’s, a change of career direction took him from engineering to the film industry. Starting over in a financially precarious industry with no spare money to spend, watches were off the agenda...for the time being.

His first major shoot led him to travel to the Indonesian city of Jakarta, renowned for its markets, including luxury goods and watches. , One day, he was about to buy a modern Rolex from a local vendor, when he got stopped mid-purchase by one of the executive members on his team, who was wearing a genuine Rolex, and told him that the one he was buying was in fact a fake! Money saved.

To avoid potential disaster again, Chris decided he had less chance of being scammed if he bought a vintage model from the 1950’s, even though he knew absolutely nothing about vintage watches. On his return to London, he sent his newly purchased watch off to Rolex, where they rhodium-plated it and fitted on it a new Rolex strap. This became Chris’s first true vintage watch.

At the time, he had no idea that if the watch turned out to be a fake, Rolex would simply crush it! But beginner’s luck; it was authentic after all, and actually, he had picked up a beautiful watch with an extremely clean original dial.

When his father began commenting on numerous occasions as to how much he loved the look of Chris’s vintage Rolex on his wrist, Chris decided to wrap it up for him one Christmas. After his father passed away, his mother gave the watch back to him and he took it down to the Burlington Arcade in London to sell it to one of the dealers there. After him and his father, it was now time for someone else to enjoy it.

This is how Chris’s journey into the vintage watch universe began, searching across all eras, decades, styles, and designs, sourcing unusual and unknown brands, eccentric models and must-haves , mirroring his father’s desire to find the unusual in vintage cars, but adding watches to the equation.

From buying watches at local auctions to travelling far and wide on his European Watch Tour: no distance was too far! One time, on the hunt for a Universal Geneve Tri-Compax, he finally found it, closing the deal on a car park in Lille, France, in the middle of the night far away from the seller’s wife.
He says: “I know I am fortunate to have enjoyed many lovely watches on my wrist, but like the world’s wealthiest person at the time, (J.D. Rockefeller, was it?), when asked how much money was enough, he replied, -Just a little bit more-. And this is how it works for us watch lovers. Just one more...there is always one more; always a holy grail watches yet to be discovered and chased after”.

In offering his collection at auction, Chris hopes that our buyers will be able to find a watch that suits them in all their ways, their character, their budget, their values; whether you’re a watch lover, the occasional indulger, or a new beginner, hopefully, you will be able to find the watch you will love and enjoy over time.

And as one very observant and wise member on a watch forum once wrote: “Too many watches, too little time.”

“I am sure that the “THE-NOT-QUITE-DEAD-YET” Estate Watch Auction: Part 2, will take place long before I go to “watch heaven”, where I can see St Peter checking his celestial timepiece if we are going to be on time.

But as there are no guarantees, Part 2 might well be much sooner!” says Chris.

So, keep an eye out for the next one.