Welcome to the Ernst Schuster Collection of Vintage Watches

Here today I have the great pleasure to reveal a collection that actually has been pretty much hidden for the last 30 or even 40 plus years. I'm talking about the Ernst Schuster collection. Philips will be selling watches from the Ernst Schuster collection in Geneva. We will be offering part one and in Hong Kong two weeks later part two and there might be more coming. So who is Ernst Schuster? Ernst Schuster has started in the 60s when he was in his 20s to discover pop art, to discover vintage Cartier jewelry, especially motor cars, racing cars, and watches. Here I have a selection of watches that I've sort of put into categories that show how Ernst Schuster has been approaching the subject. First he was always a man who loved aesthetics. Still today I mean he's always been impeccably dressed as long as I can remember he was always the most elegant gentleman in the room. And let me start with these extraordinary rectangular watches. Look at this Patek Philippe from the 50s with these faceted half hooded lugs. This example here is in rose gold and if I compare it with this other example here that has hooded lugs like sort of cylindrical bars at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock I mean these shaped watches appear rarer at auction today than many hundred plus thousand dollar tourbillons perpetual calendars and repeaters. We see maybe at most a handful every five or ten years at auction in these liveries. Next to design of course Ernst was a man who loved good engineering. So what would that lead us to? Complicated watches. And here we have just amongst some of the highlights a 1579 yellow gold chronograph the Anziaragno also known under this nickname with the spider shaped lugs but also a rose gold reference 130. As a man who traveled a lot I'm not surprised to find in the section of complicated watches this reference 605 HU, Heure Universelle, the French abbreviation for world time. This is the Cotier patented mechanism with the city ring that you manually adjust the inner ring with the diurnal and nocturnal hour and the Cotier designed hour and minute hand in absolutely spectacular condition. I wish we would find them in such condition these days that easily. Bernd Schuster also was a very well-known highly respected client of the Patek Philippe Geneva Salon. Why is that important? For two reasons. First and we recently celebrated the 80s and 90s in a thematic auction here at Philips when we paid tribute to those mechanical marvels that sort of came back the renaissance of watchmaking and amongst them of course the best known are the 3940 that was the thin caliber 240 driven perpetual calendar and that's a one owner since new watch. A watch that starts with the 770 serial number indicating it was pretty much right after the launch in 86 when Bernd Schuster said Mr. Stern and I'm talking about Mr. Philippe Stern I would like to have one of these. It shouldn't come as a surprise that as far as I understand still today Mr. Philippe Stern calls this his favorite watch. At the same time was launched the 3970. The 3970 is the direct successor to the 2499 slash 100 and this here is one of the absolutely most astounding examples never worn by Ernst himself. We found it in the bank vault with the plastic bag around it. This is a lovely second generation with those massive hallmarks on all the four locks. You have to come and take a close look at these with the 0750, the Helvetia, the case maker stamp. This is just as good as it gets. Mind you this is the 3971, the much rarer sibling to the 3970. Without going too much into detail we have those lovely re-editions of what used to be the reference 96 in the 30s and 40s. That's the 3796 in rose gold and in platinum and of course the first relaunch of a mechanical chronograph by Patek Philippe, the reference 5070 with the black dial delivered in yellow gold. But here comes the real wow. What have we got here? A brand new, yes you heard me, fourth series 2499 with retailer signature guberline on the dial. The watch has not seen a day on anyone's wrist, not even on Ernst's wrist. The bezel, the case back, the lugs are as crisp as they could possibly be. One of the best discoveries is this literally unworn, look at this 1960s strap with the gold letters on the black satin strap, a platinum Gilbert Albert, the beautiful asymmetric design by the famous Geneva jeweler with the tapered baguette diamonds on both sides of the case. This is as good as one can just imagine it still with its original strap and zero hours on anyone's wrist. Ernst also has developed a great amount of knowledge when it comes to jewelry and double signatures play another important role in his collection. Notably this 1436 coaxial split-second chronograph, coaxial because the split-second pusher is inside the crown. A lovely crisp case, again the vintage Patek strap as it came out of the factory yesterday. Tiffany signature here and it's a late-ish example from the late 50s with the more downturned lugs as you can see when you zoom in. But therefore it wasn't much of a surprise that also the limited edition that was made to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the limited edition that Patek Philippe and Tiffany developed together is part of his collection. Could be more in the sort of neo-vintage section but clearly it is here because of Ernst's love for Tiffany. There are many more watches I haven't been able to discuss today. There will be a second part coming in Hong Kong so make sure you follow the Ernst Schuster collection of vintage watches.