Christmas Day is just around the corner and there’s plenty to be thankful for.
For petrolheads who love timepieces and collectible watches, they will top their list for 2021.
You’d have to give some of these items to yourself, considering the incredible prices at which they were sold.
In 2021, these six timepieces inspired by automobiles were offered for sale on WatchCollecting. Check out our detailed report to learn more about each of them
Exclusively, we have been provided with a listing of six auto-inspired timepieces that WatchCollecting has sold this year.
CollectingCars is the motor auction website that has created this site.
These watches are like desirable motors. They can be both enjoyed and an investment. Their exclusivity, quality, and longevity will allow buyers to expect a rise in value.
Adrian Hailwood knows almost everything about timeless watches. We have a special report that gives insight to the motor-themed watches most in demand in 2021.
Feast your eyes on these automotive watches, with prices ranging from £3,500 to an eye-watering £82,000 – the latter costing almost as much as a brand new Porsche 911.
Girard Perregaux Laureato Aston Martin
Year model: 2021
Place your bid! £18,500
This special edition Girard Perregaux Laureato Aston Martin was launched this year to mark the iconic brand’s return to F1. It was sold at an auction for profit a month after being made available.
Aston Martin was back in Formula One with this watch, finishing 7th the first year.
Girard Perregaux’s involvement with automobile manufacturers is not a new thing. The ‘Girard Parregaux Pour Ferrari’ series was a collection of watches that were primarily chronographs. It has been 11 years since they began collaborating with Ferrari.
Even though Ferrari was a great F1 driver during that period, Girard Perregaux watches were made solely for the vintage collectors’ market.
Their latest partnership changes everything. Girard Perregaux has celebrated Aston Martin’s return in Formula 1 Racing with a very limited 188-piece version of the Laureato luxury sports chronograph.
The Laureato was first made by Girard Perregaux in 1975. It was initially quartz back then, which was an impressive feature.
Aston Martin’s Aston Martin edition now comes with an internal automatic drive.
While the cross-hatch dial pattern harksback to the original A M logo, the chronograph seconds hand contrabalance design echoes those of the DB4 or DB5.
This dial, which is limpid in color, was hand-painted 21 times to create seven layers. It’s a nice parallel to Aston Martin’s seven-layer process.
The limited edition of this item was released only in October 2021. It sold at an auction for considerably more than its retail price a month following its launch.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ‘Juan Pablo Montoya’
Year model: 2009
Place your bid! £28,500
Audemars Piguet motorsport watches are more about the drivers than cars and tracks. Juan Pablo Montoya is the owner of this one.
Montoya drove both William (pictured below) and McLaren throughout his F1 career. He also raced for McLaren before joining numerous US series like Indy Car or NASCAR.
Audemars Piguet motorsport watches focuses more on the drivers than the cars and tracks.
Many Formula 1 drivers have worked with the brand. But none are more loaded with motoring references that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak offshore “Juan Pablo Montoya”.
The crown guards’ front and back faces are made of carbon fibre. This is a popular material in racing vehicles because it offers strength and rigidity.
To imitate cylinder head bolts, the design of the bezel bolts was changed. In order to invoke the waving and swaying of a chequered Flag, the pushers have ridges that are inspired by the pedal grips in F1 cars.
Subdials have digital lettering in segments that replicates race-day timing and lap boards. Through the sapphire display box back, you can see the winding-rotor. It is designed in the same way as a disc brake. As a nod to the racing suit quilting, the black leather strap has been stitched in squares.
This watch was limited to 500 copies and launched in 2004. It honored Montoya’s adoption as an Audemars Piguet ambassador. His F1 career ended in 2006 but his watch continues to be popular fifteen years later.
So popular, in fact, that a collector forked out a massive £28,500 for it a month ago.
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
Year model: 2021
Place your bid! £82,000
This Rolex is the most expensive timepiece in our list, with a collector paying a staggering £82,000 for it in September
It continues today with the 24 Hours of Daytona. Pictured is the 2018 edition with cars racing on the banked oval
The Cosmograph was launched by Rolex in 1963. They targeted racing drivers and moved Omega’s Speedmaster’s speed-recording scale to the bezel of the watch for better legibility.
They named the watch after an actual racetrack to cement their racing reputation. Rolex was briefly shown in advertisements as flirting with the name Le Mans, but eventually settled on Daytona.
The purpose of this was to gain recognition on the US market, by honoring their most prestigious racing track. But also, it was to link Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird with the location where he repeatedly set the land speed record, while wearing a Rolex around his wrist.
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is a popular sports chronograph that has grown in popularity over the past few years. This makes it almost impossible to buy at retail without impeccable connections, but there is another way to obtain one… to win it.
Rolex was a sponsor of the Daytona 24-hour race from 1992 to 2013. It also gave Rolex Daytonas, which were commemoratively inscribed on the back to the winner team. This opportunity exists today, however, it is no longer available in the USA. Since 2001 Rolex sponsored the Le Mans 24-hour race, which was a nice close to the circle.
The auction was held in September for this particular example. The winning bid was a whopping £,82,000. Another £5,000 and they could have gone out and bought a new Porsche 911 Carrera.
Rolex “Bloodhound” Air King
Year model: 2020
Place your bid! £5,000
This Rolex is also on the list, and it’s dedicated to Bloodhound Landspeed Record Project. It went into administration in 2018.
Rolex no longer makes custom dials. The ref. This is what makes the ref. 116900 Air King special. Not only does it have one watch, but an entire range of models are dedicated to an external cause.
The 2016 launch and the current Rolex website makes vague associations with aviation, but those in the know recognise the dial as one thing and one thing only…a tribute to the clock and speedometer fitted to the Bloodhound, the supersonic land speed record car.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Sir Malcolm Campbell set the land speed record nine times. He did this with a Rolex watch. He was Rolex’s first male ambassador for sport, and even though he received glowing testimonials from the public. However, the Rolex watch that he wore was his personal and he did not receive any sponsorship payments.
Rolex recognized this and released a Rolex Precision “Campbell” model. This is the first time that a Rolex watch has ever featured a name of an actual person on its dial. Campbell also set four of his records in Florida at Daytona Beach.
Rolex, as it was known at the time, announced in 2014 that they had created the Speedometer and the clock for Bloodhound SSC.
Campbell set the record for breaking the 300 mph barrier in 1973. It seemed appropriate that the brand would support such records almost 80 years later. Baselworld witnessed the launch of an Air King with the exact same design and colour scheme two years later.
The Bloodhound project was unfortunately put to administration in 2018. It was saved, but Rolex weren’t sponsors anymore and the speedometer as well were removed. Rolex might have been reluctant to disclose the origin of the watch’s inspiration. However, it is still a pure motorsport watch.
Collectors were able to bid in virtual auction rooms for it, and it quickly became a highly sought-after item. When it sold in July it reached £5,000.
Porsche Design 911 GT3 Chronograph
Year model: 2021
Place your bid! £3,500
Only 911 GT3 Chronograph buyers can purchase the 911 GT3 Chronograph. It was launched to coincide with 992 GT3’s launch.
Porsche founder, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, famously created Porsche Design studio to create watches shortly after the car brand became a limited company
Some cars and watches meet on track. Other times, it’s on the designer’s drawing board. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche was a legendary car designer, and the Porsche 911 launched in 1963.
He left Porsche nine years later to establish the Porsche Design studio. Soon after, he created the Chronograph 1 watch.
F.A. Porsche did the exact same thing for his watch and created the world’s first watchcase and bracelet with black coating.
The watch, which was powered by the new Valjoux 7750 motor, proved to be popular with both drivers and the general public. It even made it to Clay Regazzoni’s wrist for Ferrari F1 driver Clay Regazzoni.
Now, it’s 2021. Porsche Design still draws inspiration from cars for watch design.
To coincide with the release of the 911 GT3 Chronograph, it was only made available to car buyers. The watch is super lightweight and follows the Chronograph 1’s style. It even features a more advanced version of that movement.
The online configurator allows you to customize the bezel, dial rings, and strap stitching of your wrist Porsche so it can be replicated exactly like the original.
A £3,500 winning bid in September looks like pretty good value.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Amvox collection
Year model: 2012
Place your bid! £4,100
Because it can do some very smart things with James Bond’s favorite car manufacturer, this is the watch he might choose to wear.
As Q Branch developed it, this watch could open the doors to an owner’s Aston Martin.
Jaeger-LeCoultre was able to maintain a 12-year-old partnership with Aston Martin, making it one of the most successful watch-car relationships. The ‘Amvox collection, a conservative watch manufacturer’ was an opportunity for them to try new design ideas and innovate features while still maintaining their core products.
It was an alarm watch, named after Aston Martin’s initials and Jaeger Le Coultre’s Memovox tail end. Later models were more functional and stylish.
Do you want your chronograph to be actuated by simply pressing the glass? Amvox 2 offers this function. A racing-design GMT tourbillon with an intelligent date display that doesn’t hide the escapement is what you want.
That’s what the Amvox 3 could accomplish. You can unlock your Aston Martin DBS V12 by simply pressing your wrist. Amazingly, the Amvox 4 is able to do just that!
This, along with the Amvox Transponder 2 which expanded unlocking capability to all Aston Martins in the range made each owner feel like an actual superspy. But that’s a watch/car collaboration.
In March, this stunning example went under the virtual hammer on WatchCollecting and sold for just over £4,000.
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