When LeCoultre made cameras and Cartier made...everything.
A quick trip from Art Deco to the '40s, also ft. Dunhill, Warhol, and chronographs from Longines and Breitling.
Another update? I’ve seen a lot of great vintage watches (and other things, as you’ll see) recently, many at auction soon. Since Instagram isn’t really a photo-sharing platform anymore, I thought I’d send a short newsletter of mostly photos.
In this update: Cartier, Dunhill, LeCoultre, Longines, Breitling, Art Deco, Coca-Cola, Audemars Piguet, auctions, and more. Tap the heart (❤️) above if you like it:
A few months ago, I was walking by the Merchandise Mart here in Chicago, a mega Art Deco structure that was the largest building in the world when it opened in 1930 (and interestingly, long owned by the Kennedy family and a major source of its wealth).
ANYWAY, I was walking by that old Kennedy cash cow and thought, “By Jack, we need more of this Art Deco stuff,” and recorded a quick Reel that, funny enough, became the basis for an Esquire article a few weeks later. Bring back the glam, Esquire demanded.
I’m not saying Art Deco is a “trend” or anything. There’s a reason that many of those mid-century, ‘60s designs – especially from Rolex – are so successful and that a 1964 Sub is, more or less, a 2024 Sub. But there’s room for a little Art Deco, too.
Last week, I swung by an all-Art Deco auction preview for a June 5 sale at Wright Auction. There’s not a single wristwatch in the sale – we’ll get to those in a minute – but that’s just fine because hidden watches pop out like an M. Night Shyamalan jump-scare. It’s an era when the wristwatch wasn’t fully adopted and companies would slap timekeepers into literally anything.
Here are a couple of favorites from the collection of Capstick-Dale, a noted Art Deco collector since the ‘60s…
Cartier cigarette lighter with watch
Here’s a cigarette lighter by Cartier that’s about the size of a long USB drive (speaking of antiques). On one end, it slides out to reveal the lighter. On the other, there’s a concealed watch. Tiny, ornate, with rich red and black enamel, it must’ve been designed to be tossed in a bag.
It feels like exactly what Cruella de Vil must’ve used to light up.
The sale includes dozens of lighters, cigarette cases, and other smoking miscellaneous, giving the impression that denizens of the 1920s smoked more than we scroll. Every generation has its own addiction, eh? (Even the lighter boxes you see in this photo are for sale, est. $3–5,000).
This Dunhill lighter is actually part of a lot of four lighters, but the only one with a watch inside (signed Hermann & Co.). Relatively common, but always cool.
There’s also a Cartier-signed Ermeto and even some cigarette cases previously from the Andy Warhol collection. It was fascinating to see a few hundred objects all together, with enamel and geometric patterns that now feel so cohesive in retrospect. At the time though, everyone was just making what made sense.
But I wanted to mention two more things that are at auction this week:
Some old, functional mechanical objects are just so good. We’re firmly out of Art Deco by now, but this is a film camera LeCoultre made in the 1930s. A few years ago, JLC even sponsored a Cannes exhibit where a photographer went out shooting with this 80-year-old camera. The images turned out pretty good:
As a Hodinkee article explains, this LeCoultre camera is the product of an enterprising guy who thought the Leica I that had just been introduced was a little bulky. He set up a company called Compass Camera in the UK and went looking for a manufacturer who could miniaturize these new mechanical film cameras. Turns out that making watch movements helped, so LeCoultre entered the picture. Pretty clear a movement maker made this nifty little machine – here’s a video operating the camera.
It’s thought LeCoultre made about 4,000 cameras for Compass, and this one’s at auction in the U.K. this Tuesday (est. £1,000 GBP - £1,500). H/t to Mr. Sauret.
Longines ‘Doppia Lancetta’ 13ZN
Moving our way through the decades, Heritage Auction has its twice-annual Watches sale on Monday. There are some good watches and often the sale ends up having a few deals, so take a look. I previewed it a few weeks ago and a standout was this Longines “Doppia Lancetta,” a collector-favorite variant that uses the 13ZN caliber. There’s a blue chronograph seconds hand, but also an additional red center hand that keeps track of elapsed minutes:
Interestingly, it’s in the same case batch as an example that Monaco Legend sold for €156k in 2019 – the two examples are just 66 serial numbers apart. While the MLG example had a cleaner dial, this one has an honest and even patina on the dial and lume. At about 39mm, it’s a large and absolutely badass 40s chronograph on the wrist. Current bid is $60,000.
Besides Heritage, there are smaller auctions at Finarte, Koller, Bonham’s, Aste Bolaffi, Iconeek, and even Christie’s and Sotheby’s Online this month, where things can slip under the radar. Since AP shapes are in the news, here’s the Disco Volante headlining Aste:
Finally, check out this 1980s Coca-Cola Synth watch for sale. If it were $300 and not $3,000, I would’ve already bought it (h/t Max C.):
Thanks for reading this week’s update and let me know if you liked it (or hated it, I guess).
-Tony
P.S. There are also some great vintage Breitlings at the Chicago boutique until June 3 if you happen to be around. They’re on a roadshow for the rest of the year, so they might be headed your after that.
As someone who has left Instagram in the trash heap of history long ago, I am grateful for this post and would gladly welcome more.
Interesting. One more recent perspective is it hurts the luxury brand if they come off as too “merchy” (exploiting their name while trying every avenue to make sales) but doesn’t seem to be the case back then during the era of Art Deco prominence