Bring a Loupe: A White-Gold Vacheron Constantin, An IWC Mark XII, And A Cartier Bamboo Coussin

It was bound to happen. I’ve written nine Bring a Loupes, covering 38 watches (excluding Strays or Buyer Beware watches). Two weeks back, I picked a clunker of a Doxa Sub 300T, which, among other issues, had the wrong hands (I’d actually been more concerned with the dial), and in my enthusiasm for vintage Doxa divers, I screwed up and included it. My apologies, though, as Coleman Hawkins consoles, “If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t really trying.”

Scorekeeping the picks from two weeks ago, the Esso Breguet sold for €15,2000, the Juvenia Arithmo’s still available, the Blancpain Bund sold for €15,500, the Doxa Sub 300T passed, the Chaumet sells Friday afternoon and has been bid to $12,000 at the time of writing, and the black dialed Seamaster sold for CHF 1,000.

Strays

For absolutely no reason whatsoever, here’s a lovely Doxa Sub 300. As Stefon (from SNL) would say, this watch has it all: original (correct!) black hands, no-T dial, signed expandro bracelet and screw-down crown, and, of course, the OG thin case. These early thin-cased Doxa Sub 300s were made for only a year, and aside from minor paint loss on the bezel, this looks like an excellent example. If the Doxa’s not your flavor and/or diving’s not your bag, maybe this UG Railrouter’ll do it for you. I have an overdeveloped fondness for railroad watches, which fondness is equaled by my appreciation for lyre-lugged watches, so this UG checks a lot of boxes. Finally, even though Mark mentioned this watch last week in his coverage of the Monaco Legends Group auction, please, Ballers, open a browser window and behold the glory that is this Gübelin “Cioccolatone.”

Okay, onwards.

Certina Argonaut 8501 501

Yes, there’s an ugly spot on the crystal obscuring a bit of the subdial at 3, and a scuff above the subdial at 6 as well. Also, yes, there’s quite a bit of gunk on the watch, as you can see, particularly on the caseback. While such details in a listing may make some folks wary, they’re the sort of things that reassure me that the watch has been in no way tarted up to make it easier to sell (the same could be said of this Hamilton RAF 6B).

Because this Certina Argonaut Chrono is a hell of a watch, in production from 1968-72 with what sure looks to these eyes like a Singer-made dial, it’s powered by a Valjoux 726 and, in this case, comes with a Certina-signed bracelet (which is a relief, because it also apparently has a lug width of 19mm, i.e., the most annoying width to find a bracelet for). While I’m ride-or-die on circular cases, the big square block case is not without its charms, especially when it’s only 38mm. Plus, in this case, it looks to be in generally good condition, with marks from wear but nothing that’d suggest it’s been polished. 

Yes, the lume on the ends of the hands has darkened and/or crumbled, but that’s solvable, especially given that this isn’t some breathlessly collected and pored-over reference. Plus, there’s that dial, which I’d bet, beneath the janky crystal, looks fantastic. No one’s even bothered entering an opening bid of £300 on this watch, though there’s still time; the auction starts on the 30th.

18k White Gold Vacheron Constantin 6394

Lockdales is a solid house regularly offering gobs of watches worth a close look, and their auction on the 28th and 29th is no different. Featuring more than 200 options, there’s plenty for everyone (and, if nothing else, there’s something almost sweet about an auction house that simply lists its wares alphabetically by brand). Originally, I was most drawn to this Heuer Kentucky, which, with its two-tone layout and ETA 7750 movement, veritably screams early 80s. Then this Certina DS caught my eye. Obviously, I’m not alone in loving this watch (those numerals!). While the fact that this particular example is an issued watch is cool, it wasn’t quite enough to get my heart racing, even though it comes on its original Gay Frères bracelet. And then there’s also this Piaget three-hander in rose gold that is so guttingly beautiful it reduced me to Gollum-like my precious clicks over the last week or so.

Ultimately, though, the watch that hooked me most in this auction is this Vacheron Constantin 6394 in white gold. What’s fantastic about this watch is that, from five feet away or with only a glance, you’d have a hard time registering it as anything more than another 1950s/60s dress watch, as likely a Hamilton or Omega or literally just about anything. Dauphine hands, a plain dial, a date at 3, rectangular hour markers: this is the gray flannel suit of watches.

But then you look again, or look closer, and the subtle details emerge, the most impressive of which are the lugs and the satin finish to the upper body of the case. There are the hands with black fill, which match the hour indices, also with black on them. If you’re in for blingy watches that attract eyeballs across any room, this Vacheron isn’t for you. If, however, you’d like something that seems to offer just a bit more every time you look at it—a watch that whispers way more than it shouts—I can think of a few more amenable to such ends.

The reference 6394 came in a variety of materials and numerous hand- and dial-configurations over the years, all powered by the K107X movement (in this case, the K1072 with date). This movement—made by JLC but used exclusively by Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet—features rotating rubies on the rotor, which may or may not do all that much in terms of decreasing friction, but sure seems like a wonderful bragging point. This white gold 36mm watch remains, somehow, bidless at the time of writing, with a starting bid of £2,000, and the auction starts on the 28th.

1990s IWC Mark XII (likely ref. 3241)

Introduced in 1994, the IWC Mark XII had a lot of baggage to contend with. First and most obviously, as the descendant of the legendary Mark XI, it had to shoulder the heritage and legacy of a watch IWC produced with only modest changes from the late ’40s to the mid-’80s. The quintessence of functional, no-nonsense watches, the Mark XI has always struck me as retaining the sort of purity anyone would long for. There’s nothing extraneous to it, no fat at all. Everything you need is there.

Powered by the JLC 889/2 (but called the IWC cal. 884), the Mark XII differs from its predecessor due mostly to some language on the dial and the introduction of a date function (yes, for the font folks, the Mark XI featured sans serif numerals, while the Mark XII’s feature serifs). It retains the 35mm stainless steel case with its excellent flat-and-sloping bezel, keeps its large screw-down crown, and also introduces a bracelet that some knowledgeable people love with the fervor of the converted.

The watch on offer seems like as honest an example as anyone could hope for. With an early serial number dating it to the mid-90s, everything about the watch looks used but original (note, for instance, the amount of grime on the caseback). This particular auction, at least on the platform I found the watch, doesn’t show current bids, so I have no idea how hotly this watch is already being fought over. That said, the £1,000-1,500 estimate is, presumably, quite a bit lower than it’ll end up being. The watch sells on April 30th.

Cartier Bamboo Coussin 78110

It took me a long time to get into Cartier. Like, more than a decade. Presumably, like lots of folks my age (80s and 90s kids), my impression of Cartier watches started and ended with the Tank Must, and given that I was impossibly uncool during my childhood, I reacted to them the same way I reacted to other cool status objects (Starter Jackets, Jordans, and/or Pumps) beyond my means. Because of how unlikely it was that I’d ever possess a Cartier, I chose to hate it instead.

Mercifully, time grinds us all down, and I’ve lost that particular youthful shoulder chip. Which brings us to this lovely Cartier Coussin Bamboo, reference 78110. According to how Christie’s cataloged a very similar model back in November, this example, number 0244, would date to 1975 (and, based on this data from Mr. Traina, it has a Mark 3 dial, with the Swiss origin claim at six, meaning it was sold in New York). I’m literally the last person who needs to point out the popularity of Cartier’s shaped watches; you’ve surely read plenty of such stories over the last several years, and likely noticed the market’s ongoing hunger for more.

While this particular Cartier is probably not something I’ll ever hanker for, I can’t help but marvel at its design-forward style—or, anyway, at how much wild design is possible within the formal constraints of the brand’s otherwise austere presentation. Think about it: if someone says Cartier watch, there are a few design elements you can almost be certain of (Roman numerals and a cabochon crown would be the first two I’d think of, but you can also just go read Cartier’s own take on it).

It’s small, this Coussin is—27mm long, 20mm wide. Still, it’s a phenomenal watch, with clear etching on the caseback, clean dial and hands, and no evidence that the case has been polished. Certainly interestingly shaped Cartiers don’t seem to be about to go down in value, meaning the CHF 8,000-12,000 estimate’s probably much lower than the watch will eventually hammer for. The auction starts on the 29th.

Buyer Beware:

This Movado 18k chronograph may be tempting—who among us has not longed for an old M90/M95 with serpentine chronograph hands? Plus, look at that sensational case!—but it’s a redial.