Vintage Gallet Watches at Christie's Dubai Auction

Joepny · 2018-03-03T04:59:23Z

Joepny examines vintage Gallet watches at Christie's Dubai auction, questioning authenticity and discussing the brand's market position. Essential reading for collectors.

Stuck on extended business trip due to weather and had an awful fitful night of sleep at a historic hotel. Bed mattress too beaten down, pillows too soft, and thin walls with amorous neighbor. I heard hourly moaning noises throughout the night, maybe the guy was on viagra or is a teenager. I applaud his stamina. 😳🙄

Anyway with insomnia, I did a lot of digging on some Gallet watches that showed up on the Christie’s upcoming Dubai auction in late March. Dubai is a newer outpost for the watch auction wars. Christie’s has planted their flag there for a few years now and so far no other big competitor has followed into the Middle East. There are lots of old knowledgeable big-time collectors in the ME and some history of watch manufacturers ownership (example, Breguet & Vacheron Constantin were once Saudi owned). But what is surpising this time is to see Gallet watches on offer. Gallet is an old watch brand but always at the mid-to-lower end of luxury. Let's say Gallets humbly did not have the cachet of Rolex. So a curious decision by Christie’s to list some vintage Gallet watches in Dubai. The watch auction circuit is international with web & telephone bidding so perhaps the final buyer will live outside of the ME.

First, as a point of reference, look at 3 Gallet watches that are considered authentic. Credit given below.

Photo credit the great WatchFred, Fratello Watches, and Timepiece Chronicle

Next, let's look at 2 of the lots from Christie's.

Lot 196 is the most curious. I am not a vintage Gallet expert but I've been trying to do my homework. I think some of the old Gallet chronographs are awesome. Here are my questions about lot 196: Is it a re-dial or a bad defected dial? The Gallet name printing below 12 o'clock looks very bad. The triangle indices are too far into the case center instead of sitting right below the lume plots. All the hour marker lumes have disappeared completely. The 3 sub-dial hands are tellingly too long. The main central hands seem too long, especially the minutes hand. Just look at the picture below and compare it to the 3 authentic Gallets above.

So then what about lot 195 below? It is the white dial version of the same Gallet Multichron Pilot. Perhaps both these Gallet watches were consigned by the same collector? If that is the case, then the questions about lot 196 would cause me to question lot 195. Lot 195 is a lot better; there are not major issues in my mind. Except for the missing lume plots are 3-6-9 and slightly long sub-dial hands, not as bad as lot 196.

So my thoughts are that Christie's have dropped these 2 Gallet vintage watches into their catalogue and did not do homework. There are not many Gallet watch experts on the planet. Not like Heuer and Breitling where you have the two great collectors Jeff Stein and WatchFred who have shared a lot of information over the years and other guys have followed in their footsteps. I could be completely wrong and Christie's did consult with the Gallet manufacturer and/or DragonDan (a Gallet expert) about these lots. But why would Christie's even select lot 196 in the first place with its visual deficiencies? Did they have a previous relationship with the consigning collector? The bigger auction houses have historically been known for being more selective because they have a bigger field of consignments to choose from. I wonder if John Reardon, head of Christie's watches, is a PPro reader. Perhaps he can shed some light on his Dubai team's selections.

The Discussion

Wojo

Mar 3, 2018

Good looking pieces

I have picture in my study of Jim Clark sporting a Multichron 12 with a black face. I was unaware of the brand until one day while putting off work, I took out a magnifying glass to see if I could make out the name of the watch on his wrist. More work was put off while I went down the rabbit hole, of trying to find some information on the brand. 😂

Joepny

Mar 3, 2018

Cool! Yeah I’ve been picking up info about Gallet for the past few months

Also it’s funny how many brands claim prestige with Jim Clark. I think the Jim Clark Estate could have a way to fund itself. He was a winner and all the watch brands have attached themselves to his legacy.

TheMadDruid

Mar 13, 2018

He wore-or advertised-Enicar as well. [nt]

georgetownhoya

Mar 4, 2018

Photo

Can you share that photo?

Joepny

Mar 13, 2018

It can be found on the GalletWorld site

stevenokes

Mar 3, 2018

Let’s hope John R, or someone, can shed some light. Great piece of research. [nt]

Vintage Gallet Watches at Christie's Dubai Auction

Available on the marketplace

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Vintage Gallet Watches at Christie's Dubai Auction

Available on the marketplace

Continue the conversation

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