I used to be first uncovered to the reference 8171 intimately by two American collectors, and I wrote about them in detail in Hodinkee Magazine Volume 4 (May 2019). They’ve lengthy been a fascination of mine. And me being me, there may be no materials fascination with out the curiosity in participation, and I got down to purchase my very own 8171 in metal a few years in the past. 8171s are a curious group of watches – as a result of there are so few of them, outcomes are laborious to foretell. The defining trait of the 8171, for my part, is the big outsized case, with *what ought to* be very sharp lugs and finely detailed rear case again engravings.
Now, the overwhelming majority of 8171s you see available in the market have rounded lugs and, in lots of circumstances, barely, if in any respect, seen rear engravings. However I am me, and that merely would not do. So, in 2017, when my outdated Hodinkee contributor and pal Eric Wind was working at Christie’s in New York, he instructed me to have a look at a selected 8171 that had quite a bit going for it. The case is totally mint – crisp and exquisite in its unique proportions. The caseback engravings crisp as may be. The dial, which options yellow gold fingers and hour markers – was beginning to age in the best way that I like my outdated watches to – in order that, they, you realize, look outdated. What’s extra, it was consigned to Christie’s by the unique proprietor, and the only {photograph} on-line did the watch completely no service. I noticed the watch in particular person, was blown away by it, and determined to bid. Sadly for me, so did a great good friend of mine with way more powder than I, and he ended up taking it house for $175,000 – what was, on the time, a powerful worth. I instructed him if he ever needed to maneuver this explicit 8171 on, I’d like to take it off his fingers – and sooner or later, not lengthy after, that is precisely what occurred.
Trending Merchandise
