Auction season is upon us (well, does it ever really stop?), and the Hong Kong auctions have already taken place. For the first time in three seasons, I’m not going to be able to make it to Monaco this fall. But the catalog is full of the kind of lots that only the team at Monaco Legend Group would put in a modern auction. There are a lot of vintage pieces, a bunch of hidden gems, and some things I’ll have to consider bidding on myself.
To help me go through the catalog – and to get a nice variety of tastes from our resident vintage lovers – I tasked my colleagues Tony Traina and Rich Fordon with picking their favorite luxury UK replica watches from the upcoming sale.
Tony Traina’s Picks
Lot 167: Replica Breitling Duograph Watches
Like the Vacheron 4072, the top fake Breitling Duograph watches is another one of those “if you change the name on the dial, just think what it’d be worth” watches. Vintage split-second chronographs are incredibly rare – only a few brands not named “Patek” were making them. Breitling introduced the Duograph in 1944, and the family went on to include a handful of references, all powered by Venus chronograph calibers.
Alpha Hands has worked to document the Duograph and found only a few dozen Breitling Duographs across references and metals (many with non-original components). This three-register ref. 766 in stainless steel is an early example, dating to 1944, right at the beginning of the Duograph’s production run. The aesthetic is similar to our Vacheron 4072: a stainless steel case applied golden markers on a silver dial with an outer scale. Clearly, these are two Swiss AAA copy watches of the same era.
All that, and I find it hard to believe the estimate on this Duograph is “only” $20-40,000. In 2020, this same example sold at Phillips for about $33,000, so I’d expect the estimate to be fair, too. It sold for about the same price before that in 2017. It’s a lot of vintage chronograph for the money.
Lot 19: Racing Rolex Bubbleback Fake Watches
After writing too much about the cheap 1:1 replica Rolex Bubbleback watches last week, you can bet the first thing I searched in this catalog was “Bubbleback” – the Italians are usually good for a few nice ones (and maybe a few not-so-nice ones).
I’m a sucker for a pink gold Bubbleback, so I love this pink-on-pink ref. 3131. But the most interesting Bubbleback in this auction has good looks and a story.
Based on the caseback engraving, this Rolex ref. 3131 super clone watches for sale was given to the Thai Prince Bira in 1947 after his victory at the Grand Prix des Frontières in Belgium. I love those Rolex, Heuer, and other racing chronographs from the 60s and ’70s as much as the next guy, but there’s an of-its-time charm from a driver being given a little gold Bubbleback for his victory in 1947. Just a decade later, he might’ve been gifted a big steel chronograph.
But in the ’40s, a 32mm pink gold Bubbleback was the “sports watch” of choice, which makes this one of my favorite lots in Monaco.
Rich Fordon’s Picks
Lot 161: Rolex 1937 Chronograph Ref. 3330 Replica Watches In Steel
Not quite as much of a market analysis or prediction of what will be “hot” next, this 1930s Rolex chronograph ref. 3330 is just a spectacular perfect replica watches. Made from the late 1930s through the 1940s, this non-Oyster-cased Rolex chronograph is not only gorgeous but in a condition that you just will not find again. I am holding myself back from hyperbole with this one because I don’t want to sound crazy. The reality is that finding any watch from 1937 in this condition is special, but when it is a Rolex chronograph produced in less than 200 examples total, with a 37mm stainless steel case, and with a two-color multi-scale dial double signed by Cravanzola Roma? That is in a whole different league.
Vintage stainless steel chronographs are not what the market is demanding right now, but for collectors who are looking for a watch like this, that almost doesn’t matter. As a larger vintage watch community, we may have shifted our focus away from top fake watches like pre-Daytonas and Longines 13ZNs, but the real collectors are still very much there. And paying big money for them, by the way. The €180,000 to €360,000 estimate is punchy, but I don’t expect that to be an issue. This level of quality is next to impossible to find. In fact, an example of this reference of this quality has not come to market since this replica watches wholesale UK was last sold in 2022 and before that, since the record price for the reference in steel was set at the legendary Phillips Start-Stop-Reset in 2016. I really wish I could see this one in person.
Mark Kauzlarich’s Picks
Lot 110: Fake Rolex Day-Date ref. 6511 Watches In Steel
If I’m going to round out the list, I’ll be the guy who picks two cover lots, but sue me; that’s my prerogative. They’re watches worth mentioning. The first one is a watch that is almost a meme. A steel Day-Date shouldn’t exist. Swiss made Rolex replica watches doesn’t make them and theoretically never has. Except this one, at the very least, checks out. The reference 6511 was the first generation of Day-Date, and in 1955, Rolex produced this watch, serial number 99272, which was delivered to a dealer in Spain who sold it to a private collector who had it for decades. Eventually, the high quality copy watches was discovered and ended up in John Goldberger’s collection, where it sat for years. This is pretty much the ultimate Rolex Day-Date, with a gorgeous tropical dial and a white gold bezel that’s just a bit yellowed from age. The estimate is €750,000-1,500,000.