Bring a LoupeA Black-Dialed Rose Gold Patek Ref. 96, A Movado Dial That Led To The Royal Oak, And A Pair Of French Auction Finds

Anyway, two of last week's picks found new homes. Our tropical Tudor Sumariner sold for £9,600 at Bonhams in London, and the Audemars Piguet skeleton went for $11,000 on Loupe This. It's a busy time of the year, and this whole dog days thing has rattled me to the core. Let's get into what matters: the "best" watches for sale from around the internet this week.

Popular within the enthusiast niche as of late, the Patek Philippe reference 96 — the original Calatrava — remains a divisive watch still, 93 years after its introduction. The "cool" thing to do is like them (guilty as charged), while the more realistic among us might flinch at the 30.5mm case diameter. As a fan, I'll stand up for the humble 96 in saying that the proportions are excellent. If you focus on that one measurement, I can see why you wouldn't lust for this watch, but I beg you to try one on first. The 18mm lug width makes a serious difference.

Stepping down from the soapbox, the OG Calatrava was produced for nearly four decades, up until 1973, and served as the backbone of Patek's simple round wristwatch offering. It is considered the brand's first serially produced wristwatch and would go on to become emblematic of what makes a dress watch, well, a dress watch. I could continue to rant about the reference, but I assume my more confident horological historian readers have already rolled their eyes once or twice.

This particular watch isn't just any old 96 — this is among the most desirable precious metal variants to be had. Cased in rose gold (pink if you're fancy), this early second series example boasts an ever-important and collectible black dial. In either yellow or rose gold, black dialed 96s are some of the rarest, not accounting for the unique or almost unique variants, and truly a collector's dream. With all of vintage Patek, there is a sycophantic love for original examples of any reference with a gold case and black dial. It all has to do with the rarity and unique look on the wrist. If you see someone with a black-dialed vintage Patek in public, I beg you to introduce yourself.

The example we have here begs the age-old discussion of rarity and originality versus the three C's of vintage watch collecting — condition, condition, and condition. Put simply, this one is honest but has honestly lived a life. The dial is littered with cracking and bubbling on the lacquer finish, but, most importantly to some collectors, it has not been cleaned, restored, or "messed with." It is original and the case is too, showing wear and signs of a previous polish, but clearly has not been prepped for sale at any point in its 84 years of service.

The last original 96 to sell with a black dial and rose gold case did $35,280 at Sotheby's in 2021 — a touch before the reference's recent rise in popularity. The condition there was original but not perfect. A near-perfect yellow gold example sold this past May for $79,459 at Phillips — that's the high water mark for a watch like this. Presented as found with a Patek Extract from the Archives confirming the dial type, today's watch is priced considerably below both of the above.

The sellers, Niko & Ari of Steel City Vintage Watches, are located in Bethlehem, PA, and are asking $33,000 for this uncommon Patek 96. Click here to check it out.

Pivoting away from the ultra-rare slightly, we find ourselves faced with an Audemars Piguet time-and-date reference from the 1970s. Powered by the caliber K2072, this simple yet interesting white gold watch offers a ton of value. In the mid-60s, AP started to increase wristwatch production slightly, and when I say that, I mean increase by the hundreds rather than thousands. The brand produced so few watches prior that it didn't take much. This production increase caught steam in the 1970s, following the launch of the Royal Oak, when the brand started purchasing automatic ébauches from JLC at scale.

The movement here is one of those JLC ébauches, but it's worth noting that Audemars Piguet handled finishing to an ultra-high level in-house. With more examples in the market than most other vintage AP references, watches like the 5205 are often overlooked as common and priced below $10,000. For a 35mm in diameter, solid 18k white gold, great looking Calatrava-esque watch from AP — I find that a bit crazy. Sure, it's no Royal Oak and it doesn't have some of the more unique design queues of other AP creations of this era, like the ref. 5093 "Disco Volante," but this is an undeniably great watch. That said, there is some charm in the case shape with oversized, flat-topped lugs and with a screw-down caseback; these have more of a modern feel than you would expect out of a watch from the 70s.

The seller, Rawad from Huntington Company, is asking $9,900 for this very clean example of Audemars Piguet's ref. 5205. Get all of the details right here.

There's no hiding my love for vintage Movado. I find the brand to be far beyond its price competitors in the vintage market when it comes to quality across the catalog. That's solely talking about the product, but on top of that, there is so much to dig into with this brand from a storytelling perspective. This week's Movado is emblematic of one of the best stories surrounding the brand I've ever come across.

In the vintage era, Movado used only the best case and dial suppliers in Switzerland — the same companies making components for Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet. One of which was the master dialmaker Stern Créations SA. Movado contracted Stern for many of their dials across the catalog, but in the early 1970s, the brand reached out to a guilloché dial specialist to execute this, a Saint Christopher dial. La Nationale, the guilloché expert, was located next door to Stern in Geneva. Due to the unfortunate death of a craftsman at La Nationale, the company was unable to complete Movado's order for roughly 50 of these dials. So, in 1971, La Nationale subcontracted Stern to make this batch of dials, gifting seven machines for this specific type of guilloché engraving and 300 pattern designs to go with them.

A year later, Stern would use these machines and patterns to develop a process we now know as tapisserie and, working with Genta, the ref. 5402 Royal Oak dial was born. In 1976, Genta returned, wanting a similar style dial for his latest project with Patek Philippe. Stern offered 10 tapisserie options, all based on the La Nationale-inherited patterns. Ultimately, Henri Stern himself chose the eventual finish for the ref. 3700 Nautilus. So it's thanks to Movado and this exact dial that the Royal Oak and Nautilus look the way they do, still to this day.

The dial is fitted within a 34mm gold-filled case, which is not ideal, but it is what it is. The eBay seller's photos aren't the best either, but the dial does look clean.

An eBay seller in Six Mile, South Carolina, has listed this Movado for a buy it now price of $1,500 or best offer. Check it out in full right here.

For the final two picks of this week, we're jumping across the pond to France. The first is a French diver classic you rarely see: the 1960s LIP Nautic Super Compressor. LIP was a thoroughly French watchmaker, known for innovation and bold design throughout the 20th century. From supplying military timepieces to pioneering electric-mechanical hybrid movements, the brand played a vital role in shaping European horology.

The Nautic Super Compressor is not a watch I had come across before, but follows a known formula of the 1960s, combining an ESPA super compressor case with a deep black dial adorned with a heavy application of tritium lume. The case is an interesting piece of vintage watch technology. Rather than a screwdown caseback, EPSA invented a system within the case that uses the added pressure when diving deeper to tighten the seal, pressing out more and more as pressure is applied.

The dial is a glossy black tritium with bold Arabic numerals and matching broad‑arrow hands, anchored by a lollipop sweep seconds hand. The dual cross-hatch patterned crowns are used for adjusting the handset and internal bezel. This one, up for auction right where you want to find one, is in seemingly honest and untouched condition with nice patina and a super sharp case.

This LIP Nautic is lot 38 of the Ancient and Modern Jewellery - Gold Coins sale at Hôtel des Ventes Montpellier Languedoc in Montpellier, France on Wednesday, July 16th, at 2  AM ET. The estimate is €800 to €850. Click here.

Finishing on a fun French pick, this Pierre Cardin is for the more design-focused watch enthusiasts among us, but a great vintage watch nonetheless. Pierre Cardin's foray into watches came in 1971 with the Espace collection. This was an audacious extension of his space-age design philosophy, and the present example of the "UFO" epitomizes that boldness. The total collection comprised 26 highly sculptural models inspired by futuristic cinema like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barbarella, blending geometric forms with materials like acrylic and smoked crystal in unconventional case shapes. The "UFO" is known by model codes or reference numbers like PC101 or PC115 and features a flying‑saucer–style brushed stainless steel case around 40mm.

As is evident by the caseback engraving, Cardin partnered with Jaeger to execute the Espace collection, though the exacts of this partnership are a point of contention among watch historians. It's unclear whether Jaeger-LeCoultre and Jaeger France operated as separate companies at this time. The movement inside is not a JLC but rather the French ébauche caliber FE‑36. The watches were produced in France rather than Switzerland, leading collectors to the assumption that this Jaeger was not the exact same as the JLC of Le Sentier.

This Pierre Cardin "UFO" is lot 105 of the Summer Heteroclite Sale at Carvajal SVV in Antibes, France, starting today, Friday, July 11th, at 10 PM ET. The estimate is €100 to €200. Check it out right here.