91st Auction
2015/5/16
Lot 134
Rolex "Oyster Perpetual 200m/660ft Submariner", Movement No. 475639, Case No. 145325, Ref. 6538, Cal. 1030, 37 mm, circa 1955
A gentleman's historical important, early automatic Rolex "James Bond - Big Crown", one of the first wristwatch of this reference. With extensive documentation, explaining that this watch was worn by Bernhard Gorsky at the Moana expedition in 1957.
Case: steel, screw back, turnable bezel, screwed "Brevet" winding crown, diameter 8 mm, riveted steel "Oyster" bracelet. Dial: black, luminous indexes, centre seconds, luminous Mercedes hands. Movm.: rotorwind movement, rhodium-plated, ground, 6 adj., 25 jewels, Glucydur screw balance, shock protection for balance.
Ref. 6538 - James Bond
Reference 6538 was produced from 1955 until 1959. From 1957 on the dial of the watch bore the inscription "Officially Certified Chronometer", whereas the earlier models had not been chronometer certified by COSC. Sean Connery made his debut as James Bond in the 1962 film "Dr. No" and has worn the Rolex ref. 6538; for this reason the reference 6538 is considered to be the only true "James Bond" Submariner by many collectors. The 6538 is called "coroncione" by its Italian fans - "coroncione" meaning "big crown".
The transfer to Eli Coantic, who had been the previous owner, was initiated by René Jeanneret of Rolex Geneva himself. In this letter it is mentioned that this watch was worn by Bernard Gorsky during the Moana expedition.
Further letters exchanged between Rolex Geneva and the owner date up to the malfunction of the watch in 1995. From then on the watch was kept until 2010 and was then sold. In 2010 the watch mechanism was maintained by Bucherer in Munich, the watch being waterproof at that time.
Here again we have an extraordinary documentation about this watch, collected over many years, which additionally - in contrast to the prevailing opinion, that during the Moana expedition only the Submariner 6200 was carried along - confirmes that this watch was also taken along was on this expedition.
A gentleman's historical important, early automatic Rolex "James Bond - Big Crown", one of the first wristwatch of this reference. With extensive documentation, explaining that this watch was worn by Bernhard Gorsky at the Moana expedition in 1957.
Case: steel, screw back, turnable bezel, screwed "Brevet" winding crown, diameter 8 mm, riveted steel "Oyster" bracelet. Dial: black, luminous indexes, centre seconds, luminous Mercedes hands. Movm.: rotorwind movement, rhodium-plated, ground, 6 adj., 25 jewels, Glucydur screw balance, shock protection for balance.
Ref. 6538 - James Bond
Reference 6538 was produced from 1955 until 1959. From 1957 on the dial of the watch bore the inscription "Officially Certified Chronometer", whereas the earlier models had not been chronometer certified by COSC. Sean Connery made his debut as James Bond in the 1962 film "Dr. No" and has worn the Rolex ref. 6538; for this reason the reference 6538 is considered to be the only true "James Bond" Submariner by many collectors. The 6538 is called "coroncione" by its Italian fans - "coroncione" meaning "big crown".
The transfer to Eli Coantic, who had been the previous owner, was initiated by René Jeanneret of Rolex Geneva himself. In this letter it is mentioned that this watch was worn by Bernard Gorsky during the Moana expedition.
Further letters exchanged between Rolex Geneva and the owner date up to the malfunction of the watch in 1995. From then on the watch was kept until 2010 and was then sold. In 2010 the watch mechanism was maintained by Bucherer in Munich, the watch being waterproof at that time.
Here again we have an extraordinary documentation about this watch, collected over many years, which additionally - in contrast to the prevailing opinion, that during the Moana expedition only the Submariner 6200 was carried along - confirmes that this watch was also taken along was on this expedition.
Sold
estimated
33.000—50.000 €
Price realized
80.600 €