HARRIS A S | November 29, 2009
May be of some interest to Rolex enthusiasts Sad to say, the watch is gone and so is the original box that came with it. What I have left with me is only the original Rolex Guarantee Certificate of circa 1949, if I can recall correctly. This beautiful document came with a stainless-steel Rolex Bubble-back [...]
HARRIS A S | November 28, 2009
Rare Rolex pendant watch, despite no vintage-watch shops around then. There were no shops selling old, used or second-hand watches in Singapore, some years ago and the only place I could try my luck were those old shops in the vicinities of North Bridge Road and also, Chinatown. They did not take in used or [...]
HARRIS A S | November 28, 2009
Passion and love for watches at a very young age. It was 1952 and at the age of seven, my first year in a primary school, I realized that a school-mate of mine who was in primary two, named Isaac was wearing a gold-plated watch, Snowcem. Daily when we met during recess, I admired the [...]
HARRIS A S | November 27, 2009
Stainless-steel or Solid-gold is more collectible? A few days ago, a friend of mine visited me and brought to my attention to the following. The price achieved is indeed amazing for a stainless-steel Constellation, though superb in every respect. The question is: ‘How to wear such a watch?’, since I believe it has never [...]
HARRIS A S | November 26, 2009
Antiquorum, eBay, Christie’s and Sotheby’s: the saviour of vintage-watches Long before the birth of eBay, Antiquorum ignited the interest of vintage-watches in Singapore, some time in May 1983, prior to the holding of their auction at Furama Intercontinental in Hong Kong. Before that, Christie’s and Sotheby’s have held vintage-watch auctions world-wide for generations already. Just [...]
HARRIS A S | November 26, 2009
Price of gold shoots up, population of old watches comes down. When the price of gold shot up, many of those heavily-cased watches in solid gold were sold to gold-smiths who smelted the gold contents of the watch-case. This happened several years ago, when buying a used or second-hand watch was a social stigma. As [...]
HARRIS A S | November 25, 2009
Patek Philippe Moon-phase ref 3448 for US$7 500.00 only … yes, but when? Apart from going round to the various shops at North Bridge Road, Chinatown and Orchard Road to look for some old watches, there is a joint at a Chinese coffee-shop, situated at the junction of North Bridge Road and Arab Street. Here, [...]
HARRIS A S | November 24, 2009
The beauty of good after-sales service The after-sales service from Patek Philippe is legendary. They will even produce spare-parts which are already obsolete for their old watches, irrespective of age. I do not know whether other watchmakers would go to this length, so as to satisfy their customers. On the contrary, there are watch producers [...]
HARRIS A S | November 23, 2009
Original v Reconditioned Dial As far as my knowledge goes, Patek Philippe will accept a tired dial or a dial that had been carelessly reconditioned by someone else to be refurbished by their factory in Geneva, presumably using the original stencil, provided the basic dial is Patek Philippe original. (Do be careful when someone describes [...]
HARRIS A S | November 22, 2009
Patek Philippe: Investment in the ART OF EXCELLENCE Even up to the late seventies and later part of eighties, in some Asian countries where luxury watches sell by the thousands daily, the word ‘vintage-watch’ was unheard of, then. It was either you buy a ‘used’, ‘second-hand’ or an ‘outdated model’ watch. Amongst the Asian countries [...]
