Bob’s Watches Collaborates with Sotheby

18 Rare Driving Watches in an Online-Only Auction

Bob’s Watches has curated a group of eighteen rare vintage and modern driving wristwatches in an online-only auction this month in partnership with Sotheby’s.

Inspired by an exceptional group of classic cars highlighting RM Sotheby’s auction, held during the world-famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance motoring week in Monterey, each of the timepieces on offer in Watches Online: The Driver’s Collection was carefully selected by Jonathan Burford, Sotheby’s Watches and Clocks Specialist in Los Angeles, and Paul Altieri, Founder & CEO of Bob’s Watches, to pair with a car on offer in order to accentuate the beauty between each car and watch.

The dedicated, online-only auction will be open for bidding from 14-20 August, with all eighteen timepieces on public view at the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, CA from 14-17 August – coinciding with RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction.

The auction features highly desirable timepieces including extremely hard to buy pieces due to multi-year waiting lists, and internationally renowned watches such as the Rolex ref. 6538 “James Bond Submariner,” aka “Big Crown” Submariner (estimate $180,000 – $280,000). Made famous by the actor Sean Connery, the timepiece coincides with the offering of “The Most Famous Car in the World” – the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 “Bond Car,” on offer in the RM Sotheby’s auction. One of two examples used for the launch of the film, Thunderball, the DB5 is equipped with 13 functional Bond gadgets as seen in both Goldfinger and Thunderball.

Introduced in 1955, the Submariner 6538 brought with it a new Caliber 1030 movement, a slightly thinner case, more beveled lugs, and a larger 8mm winding crown. Due to the oversized crown, the 6538 is known as a “Big Crown” Submariner. While all Submariner 6538 watches are highly sought-after by vintage watch collectors, this version is especially rare due to the four lines of text on its remarkably “Tropical” dial, which indicates that this version is COSC-certified (compared to the two-line Submariner 6538 models which are not).