Editors' Picks The Most Meaningful Watches To Us In The Phillips Retrospective Auction

Jack Forster: Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Equation Of Time

The Jules Audemars Equation Of Time has not been part of the AP catalog for some years now, but if there is a single watch out of the many that AP has made and discontinuted over the years that I wish they'd bring back, it's this one. It was, when it was first introduced, the very first wristwatch ever to feature a sunrise-sunset complication, which had been seen before in pocket watches and clocks, but never in a wristwatch.

A highly complex timepiece which also includes a perpetual calendar and a display of the Equation Of Time, it is a wonderful combination of complications – a kind of mechanical ode to the relationship between the Earth and the Sun as the Earth makes its yearly orbit. The first version of this watch (which can also show the time of true solar noon, another first in a wristwatch) was, once upon a time, the watch responsible for my learning what the Equation Of Time actually was, and to this day, whenever I see one, I can remember the intellectual excitement I felt. A beautiful, lyrical piece of work from AP, historically one of the great complications specialists.

Lot 218, estimate: $21,700-32,600

Danny Milton: Rolex Red Sea-Dweller Ref. 126600

I am an absolute sucker for matte-dial Rolex dive watches. I have spoken at length about my father's 5513 Submariner. You might have also picked up on my love for film, specifically '70s American cinema, and more specifically the 1976 classic, All the President's Men – a movie that prominently features a Rolex Red Submariner 1680 (Robert Redford's personal watch, which he also wore in 1972's The Candidate). The Rolex Sea-Dweller 126600 up for auction here is – to my mind – more of a modern interpretation of that original 1680 Red Submariner than any Red Sea-Dweller. I say Submariner as opposed to Sea-Dweller, because the 126600 sports something that no prior model had before: A cyclops magnified date window.

What's more, this watch features the modern Rolex matte dial. This is something we honestly don't talk enough about. Only a handful of modern Rolex watches utilize it, and it looks great in the metal. The vintage Sea-Dwellers and Submariners were true tool watches of their time, and to see a Red Sub worn in a professional setting the way Redford sported his on-screen (as a senatorial candidate and as an investigative reporter) was actually quite a rarity. The 126600 embodies that same professional tool watch ideal to me in a modern context. It would look equally cool with Redford's signature corduroy suit as it would with a wetsuit. As a contemporary matte-dial Rolex diver, the 126600 brings a bit of nostalgia, but in a 21st-century package. 

Lot 204, estimate: $6,600-9,900

James Stacey: Greubel Forsey Signature 1

Seeing a Greubel Forsey Signature 1 always makes me smile, and it's not only because the watch is drop-dead gorgeous. It also makes me think of a time that Stephen Forsey called my Rolex a fake. It's 2016, and I'm sitting in Greubel Forsey's booth at SIHH having just witnessed a short presentation of the then brand new Signature 1 by Stephen Forsey himself. I had met Stephen previously while writing a profile about him for another outlet, and we even shared a friend in common as my watchmaker in Vancouver, Jason Gallop, graduated in the same class at WOSTEP as Forsey (and he is my long-suffering go-to resource for all nitty-gritty watchmaking questions).

It's always a treat to walk into one of these meetings and feel at home, but imagine my delight when Stephen gestured towards my beloved 16570 Explorer II. I popped it off my wrist and handed it to him, beaming with pride in front of my colleagues as Stephen took a closer look. My pride was shortlived. "This is a fake and not a very good one," Stephen said with lightly veiled incredulity. Looking my way with a sly grin, he shrugged off my frustrated rebuttals. A moment later, I had my counter-argument, but didn't see the trap that had been laid for me. "I bought it from someone you know – from Jason Gallop in Vancouver." Stephen, with a boyish look of mischief in his eyes, replied, "Yes, I know. He told me to tell you it's fake." Forsey (and the rest of the room) then burst into laughter. I took my (authentic) Rolex back with a smile and shook my fist in the general direction of Vancouver – someday I'll have my revenge. Also, the Signature 1 is an incredibly cool watch and quite rare – good on Phillips for sourcing one as it fits the theme of the sale perfectly. 

Lot 216, estimate: $65,400-131,000

Jon Bues: Urwerk UR-103

I am sure that it has been said elsewhere that this young century has seen the rapid rise in prominence of independent watchmaking. When I first started covering watches in 2005, a bifurcation was already firmly established between the large, often group-directed, corporate side of the business and the smaller, artisanal, independent players. One of the most compelling of the latter was Urwerk who, by the time I joined the industry, had already found its groove in the form of an unconventional case shape and display. The company wasn't bound by tradition in the way that many other firms were, and I found this approach really refreshing and appealing.

To me, the UR-103, with its forward-facing satellites for the hours, epitomizes early 21st-century independent watchmaking, reminding me of an exciting time that marked both the beginning of my career covering watches and what was, I think, looking back, a pretty seminal time for the watch industry itself.

Lot 230, estimate: $16,500-27,500

Cole Pennington: Rolex GMT-Master II

Every month, an issue of Air & Space magazine would show up to my childhood home, and every month, I'd read it cover to cover, multiple times, skipping homework to indulge in daring tales about the miracle of flight. The first watch I ever noticed in an ad wasn't because of the watch at all; instead, it was because the advertisement featured Chuck Yeager. In it, he was wearing a GMT-Master II, and the image of him wearing the watch was forever imprinted on me. A line of copy read, "History is not always written quietly. Sometimes it requires a sonic boom." Now, I know the GMT-Master II has moved away from "the watch routinely on the wrist of swashbuckling pilots" positioning into what Rolex now calls "The Cosmopolitan Watch," but to me, the memory of seeing the first GMT-Master II on Yeager will always define the watch. And for what it's worth, Yeager currently lives in West Virginia. Hardly cosmopolitan. 

Lot 202, estimate: $8,800-13,200

Stephen Pulvirent: Bulgari Octo Finissimo "Tadao Ando" Edition

It's funny to see one of these hitting the block, considering that it was released less than a year ago. In fact, I remember the day it launched very clearly because I was in Tokyo working with our HODINKEE.jp team to get the site ready to launch. Masa, our crack editor and web producer, casually mentioned to me over lunch that he'd heard Bulgari was collaborating with Tadao Ando, and he wanted to know if I was interested in seeing the watch. I nearly spit my ramen over the counter (which, I’m told, is poor manners) and knew I had to see this watch ASAP.

We called it in and shot some photos together at HODINKEE Japan HQ, making it one of the very first stories we worked on together. I love the watch on its own merits, but it will always remind me of working with my incredible colleagues in Shibuya and just how proud I am of HODINKEE Japan.

Lot 281, estimate: $6,100-13,300

The Retrospective: 2000-2020 sale will take place at the Hôtel La Réserve in Geneva on November 8. For more, visit Phillips.