‘Vintages,’ an online auction by León Gallery, set this weekend
Guest curated by celebrated designers Jonathan Matti and Pepito Albert, with cultural savant Devi De Veyra, León Gallery’s Vintages is a special auction that highlights luxury timepieces and mid-century modern furniture from CWC International Corporation and Midcentury Manila.
Top-billing the exquisite wristwatches is a prized name in haute horlogerie: A yellow gold Calatrava Ref 3796 with white dial and Roman numerals from Patek Philippe, one of the last, independently owned watchmakers making each piece a collector’s dream.
A white gold 260th Anniversary Limited Edition Blancpain No. 230/260 with silver dial and a stainless steel Blancpain Fifty Fathoms GMT Trilogy Ref 192 with black dial. Developed by the French Navy, the Fifty Fathoms is the only other watch besides the Rolex Submariner that impacted diving watch design.
Included, too, is a gaggle of Rolexes up for bids: a circa 2007 rose gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date Ref 118235F chocolate wave dial with Arabic numeral indices; a circa 2004 stainless steel 50th Anniversary Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Submariner Ref 16610 with a black dial and a green bezel; a circa 1990 white gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date Ref 18249 with white dial and Roman numeral indices; a circa 1989 gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date GMT Master Ref 16718 with a root beer dial; and, a yellow gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date Ref 18248 with champagne tapestry dial.
Rounding up the timepiece collection are an Italian-crafted tritium titanium Panerai Subzilla Luminor Submersible 2500 with black dial; a pair of Swiss-German-crafted IWC Schaffhausen famed for their pilot watches: a yellow gold IWC Novocento Automatic Perpetual Ref 3545 with white dial and a rose gold IWC Da Vinci Tonneau Ref IW452302 with silver dial; and, a Swiss-crafted rose gold Cartier Calibre de Cartier Ref 3300 with silver dial.
Vintages also showcases the best of CWC International Corporation’s mid-century modern furniture collection, whose classical timelessness derives from the elegance of clean lines, subtle curves, innovative materials, and an understated look that suffuses any space with a nostalgic yet futuristic aura.
Mid-century modern furniture, which peaked from the 1940s to the 1960s, eclectically combine traditional with non-traditional materials such as metal, glass, vinyl, Plexiglas, and Lucite to deliver a surprisingly sophisticated and uncluttered look that is unadulterated function melded with pure design.
Proponents of this design tradition like Milo Baughman, the couple Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, Greta Magnusson Grossman, Arne Jacobsen, Florence Knoll, Herman Miller, George Nakashima, George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, Eero Saarinen, Karl Springer, and Edward Wormley continue to influence contemporary design with their crisp aesthetic.
Coined in 1984 by writer and art historian Cara Greenberg, “mid-century modern” is what is popularly described as “furniture candy” and is a fitting and fully functional highlight, central piece, or conversation piece in any discriminating home as well as homemakers and collectors piece de resistance.
Vintages will be on Nov. 14, 11 a.m. View the catalog online, or download it here. Register to bid online here.