![]() ![]() Skala’s letter quoted extensively from a 1909 edition of the Horological Journal, which provided the first account of the watch in an essay by J. who as of 1947 owned the timepiece, according to a contemporaneous magazine article. Skala didn’t say how he acquired the watch, explaining only that it had “come into possession.” He may have bought it from the late Benjamin Mellenhoff, a former head watchmaker at Tiffany & Co. (British Horological Institute / Horological Journal) It came from a descendant of Marie Antoinette’s mother. Player supercomplication resonated deeply, and finding it teetered toward an obsession.īut my search for the pocket watch didn’t pick up until I got a pivotal clue. And when I first strapped on my late grandfather’s gold watch, I felt the thrill of an heirloom that could bind generations. I became fascinated by the idea that something powered by gears, wheels, levers and springs could bring order to the ephemeral passage of time. Back then it was a simple pleasure, but as I got older, my interest deepened. ![]() I’ve been intrigued by horology - the study of the measurement of time - ever since I was a little kid with a replica Dick Tracy wristwatch (no, the two-way radio didn’t work). “The watch was, and remains, a hugely important part of our cultural heritage,” said watchmaker Robert Loomes, technical director of Loomes & Co. And while it’s a safe bet that it would be worth millions, its value as a symbol of Great Britain’s watchmaking tradition transcends dollars and cents. Player pocket watch can claim a record too: It is the most complicated timepiece ever made by a British watchmaker, experts said. It sold at auction for $24 million in 2014, then a record. in 1933, the pocket watch included 24 complications - industry jargon for functions - and was for decades touted as the most complex timepiece ever made. Made by Patek Philippe for banker Henry Graves Jr. There was widely considered to be a winner: the Graves supercomplication. They commissioned increasingly elaborate examples, and it became a competition of sorts. Player pocket watch, called a supercomplication because of its many features, stands out for its audacious intricacy.Ĭomplex watchmaking - once the province of kings and queens - captivated early 20th century American industrialists, who were then emerging as the country’s version of royalty. So is a 19th century Breguet created for a Neapolitan queen that is thought to be the first wristwatch ever made. The Omega Speedmaster that Buzz Aldrin wore on the moon is lost. ![]() Player watch is not the only important timepiece to vanish. The effort plunged me into the baroque world of high-end antiquities, where a strange globe-spanning story entangled the estate of a La Jolla aviation mogul, an accountant from England, an Italian auctioneer, a watch-collecting Middle Eastern sultan and the archduke of Austria. Then, in the mid-1970s, the pocket watch disappeared, spawning an enduring mystery. The banking magnate’s death is said to have touched off a long, peripatetic journey for the timepiece, which eventually found its way into the hands of an enigmatic antiquities dealer in New York. Just a few years after the watch’s completion, Morgan died in 1913 at the age of 75. It cost 1,000 pounds - or about $5,000 at the time - and took four years to make. Player & Son to create the timepiece, people familiar with the watch have asserted over the decades. Impressive as its features were, the 1.75-pound watch may be just as notable for whom it was believed to be made: John Pierpont Morgan.Īround 1905, the Gilded Age tycoon commissioned the English firm J. ![]()
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