Bob’s Watches ‘Fresh Finds’ vintage 1960s sports watch auction has come to a close…and the results are spectacular.
While last month’s ‘Fresh Finds’ vintage auction featured 16 incredible watches all produced by Rolex, this month’s edition featured just 4 lots (3 Rolex watches and 1 Omega). Additionally, all of the watches featured in this ‘Fresh Finds’ auction were vintage sports models produced during the 1960s – the final decade from the golden era of mechanical watches, right before the advent of the quartz timekeeping.
Each of these vintage 60s sports watches was designed from the ground up to serve a specific task, whether that be diving, flying, or mountain climbing. Additionally, while all of these sports watches first emerged during the 1950s and still exist in their modern forms within their respective brand’s catalogs, these historic 1960s models represent the point in history when these legendary purpose-built tool watches first started to take on their contemporary forms.
All four of the remarkable fresh-to-market vintage sports watches featured in our ‘Fresh Finds’ auction received numerous bids, surpassing their reserves and netting a grand total of $98,700 for the auction. Additionally, the ‘Fresh Finds’ vintage auctions never have any buyer’s premiums, so the final sale price of each watch is actually the total amount that the lucky winners will pay.
The most expensive lot sold in this month’s ‘Fresh Finds’ vintage auction was the Rolex Submariner ref. 5512 fitted with a gilt dial with both chapter ring and exclamation point markings, which achieved a final sale price of $30,200 and received a total of 9 bids. This was closely followed by the Rolex GMT-Master ref. 1675 (also fitted with a gilt dial), which reached a final price of $30,000, also with a total of 9 bids. The third Rolex featured in the auction – a vintage Rolex Explorer ref. 1016 – also fitted with a gilt dial with chapter ring and exclamation point markings – achieved a final sale price of $21,000 with a total of 6 bids.
While strong auction results for vintage Rolex watches are nothing new, it is worth noting that the vintage Omega Speedmaster “Ed White” ref. 105.003 featured in our auction also achieved impressive results, with a final sale price of $17,500 with a total of 5 bids.
