Huge Profits to Be Made by Collecting Wristwatches

Part gadget, part fashion accessory, and an essential piece of kit for pilots, divers, adventurers, and racing drivers, the wristwatch is the ideal collectible object. Twentieth century watches are relatively easy to find and maintain. They are also items that gain in value whilst being shown off daily.

The earliest wristwatches appeared in the early 1900s and quickly replaced the fob watch, which was pocketed via a chain in a jacket. Hands-free watches particularly appealed to early aviation pioneers, and one, Alberto Santos-Dumont, had one made for him by his friend Henri Cartier after a conversation they had in Maxim's Paris Nightclub. The high-flying Brazilian used it to check his record-breaking 220-metre flight, which took just 21 seconds in November 1907.

Swiss manufacturers Omega supplied British World War One fighter pilots with wrist chronographs (watches with at least two independent time systems). Their 1969 Flightmaster was the last to be made specifically for aeroplane pilots. With colour-coded winders and distinctive red and blue hands, this sky-bound heavyweight has a jet engraved on its back. There are believed to be around 40 gold versions in existence, all of which would fetch thousands today.

Around the same time, another jaw-dropping Omega, the Speedmaster, was being launched into space by US astronauts. To help NASA reach a decision about which watch their space personnel should be issued with, a number of competing products underwent rigorous laboratory tests, including boiling at 93 degrees and freezing at 18 below zero. The victorious Speedmaster was worn by Apollo 11 astronauts when they landed on the moon at 02:56 GMT on 21 July 1969. For this reason, it is popularly known as the "moon watch".