Watchlords

When it comes to auctions, watches with provenance have been some of the biggest runaway successes over the last few years. Typically these watches belong to celebrities, musicians, and movie stars such as Elvis Presley, Robin Williams, and, of course, Paul Newman. But then there are the watches who belong to people of note for other reasons – Jackie O and her Cartier Tank come to mind here. The watch we have here today definitely falls into the latter camp. Available now at RR Auction in Boston is a Longines watch that once belonged to Oskar Schindler, the industrialist who is credited with saving more than 1,000 lives during the Holocaust and the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List.



The watch in question is a basic time-only Longines that looks every bit the part of the 1940s timekeeper. It has a stainless steel case and an off-white dial that has aged to a rich custard color. The dial has tons of negative space, punctuated only by the sharp rose gold hour and minute hands, the applied rose gold hour markers, and the subtle crosshair marking out the small-seconds register. The watch isn't in incredible condition, but that's actually better for a watch like this – if it were too pristine there would be cause for concern about its provenance and whether or not it had been overly restored. As-is, this watch appears to be in honest, original condition. That's exactly what you want.

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/oskar ... 1cc48dd36b

The movement looks to be in suspiciously good condition.

foghorn wrote:The movement looks to be in suspiciously good condition.

I think he was able to easily afford the relatively cheap labor that was required to keep it running...

"Longines that looks every bit the part of the 1940s timekeeper."

What, when the movement dates to 1956?
Typical donkey write-up.

Lovely watch though.

bobbee wrote:"Longines that looks every bit the part of the 1940s timekeeper."

What, when the movement dates to 1956?
Typical donkey write-up.

Lovely watch though.

Amen. A gorgeous watch that belonged to an uncommonly good person. Meanwhile, the Donkeys are Donkeys, which means they can’t really tell their arses from their elbows.

I personally know and have known people who were aided by Mr. Schindler; you can see of a few of them in the final scene of Schindler's list, where a group of seniors is shown walking toward the camera. A couple of these people are quite close to me, as close as anyone in my life (I hate writing about such serious matters here, particularly after a certain sick-in-the-head member here concocted a faux past, but my words are true).

I hope whoever wins the bidding simply donates to artifacts to a place of history, such as The Holocaust Museum here in New York City. In the meantime, and I'm being deadly serious here, I'm calling some relatives about the auction. Thanks for posting this.