UK-based Wilsons Auctions is holding an auction on August 14 to auction off over £2.3 million of goods seized from a London-based drug dealer. In addition to some red bottoms, a villa in Spain, and other things people rap about, there are a handful of watches up for auction.
Don’t like the blinged out watches below? Perhaps a Spanish villa is more your style.
Since authorities seized this property and it’s now government property, everything is being sold without a reserve price. Wilsons is in the business of “asset realization” for public sector clients, meaning it manages everything from asset collection to valuation and sale, returning the proceeds to its government clients.
Those interested will be able to bid in person or online. With that, let’s take a look at a few of the watches you can get your hands on.
Rolex Datejust II ‘Wimbledon’ Reference 116333
When I think Wimbledon, I think Roger Federer, largely due to his eight titles on grass. And when I think Federer, one of the first things I think of is Rolex. So props to the crown on snagging their Swiss compatriot and making his face so synonymous with the brand. Whether he’s wearing his typical Datejust or a sportier GMT-Master II ‘Batman’, a Rolex is never far from Federer’s wrist.
Mirka Federer wearing a Rolex Datejust with green bezel
That said, Roger’s wife, Mirka, has a bit of style in her own right, and can often be spotted wearing this elegant Datejust with green jewels in the bezel. It’s surely hard on Roger when his wife gets nicer stuff from his sponsor than he does.
Back to the watch on offer from Wilsons. It’s a Rolex Datejust II Reference 1166333 “Wimbledon”, so named because of the dial color combination. The Datejust II line was first introduced in 2009 as a larger alternative to the traditional Datejust. At 41mm, the collection certainly achieves that — add on the fluted bezel and two-tone execution and you’ve got a watch with quite the wrist presence. Ideal for a drug dealer, in other words (a stupid one, at least).
The dial is elegantly executed, with black indices outlined by a subtle green. While green (along with gold) is technically Rolex’s logo and brand color, it doesn’t often use green in its watches, making this Datejust II particularly special.
The case and bracelet are a combination of stainless steel and Rolex’s Yellow Rolesor, a mixture of stainless steel and 18k yellow gold, with a gold fluted bezel finishing off the dressier look.
Inside the two-tone case ticks the Rolex caliber 3136 COSC-certified movement with the famed Rolex Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock absorbers to resist shock and temperature changes. So you could play tennis against Nadal with this on if you wanted.
Wilsons puts the retail value of this Datejust II at £9,300, and remember, it’s being sold without reserve.
Rolex Daytona Reference 116505
There’s something badass about a black dial with a gold watch, even more so when it’s a Daytona. Maybe it’s the John Player Special vibe.
Wilsons has a modern M116505-0008 up for auction, featuring an Everose gold case (Rolex’s special mixture of pink gold) and black and Everose gold dial.
Inside this Daytona is Rolex’s COSC-certified caliber 4130, featuring a 72-hour power reserve. The caliber 4130 is the successor to the caliber 4030, which was the modified Zenith chronograph movement Rolex used in the previous generation of the Daytona.The 4130 was thus the first true in-house caliber inside a Daytona. It’s perhaps most impressive for its practicality: it contains just 201 separate parts, a 60 percent drop compared to its predecessor movement. As a point of comparison, Patek’s base self-winding chronograph movement contains 308 parts.
With the popularity of the stainless steel, ceramic bezel Daytona, don’t be surprised if these continue to see a rise in popularity — especially if the trend moves away from stainless steel watches and back to gold watches (we’re already seeing the move to two tone).
The MSRP on this Daytona is $37,450.
Breitling Emergency Reference A73321
Finally, Wilsons scooped up a Breitling Emergency Mission from these drug dealers. It’s a watch from a simpler time in the early aughts: watch cases were big, George Bush hated black people, and Apple was just selling iPods.
Breitling released the first Emergency in 1995, equipped with a 121.5 Mhz frequency beacon that, when activated, would send a search and rescue crew your way.
The Emergency Mission is a slightly more civilian second variation of the Breitling Emergency, designed to be a survival tool for pilots everywhere. Released in 2003, it has a more standard three-register chronograph layout, rather than the combination digital-analog display of the original Emergency. The case is a mere 45mm; dainty, compared to the 51mm Emergency II released in 2015.
The wearer can activate the emergency transmitter beacon via winding crown on the bottom right lug of the watch. Breitling claims there were no false alarms from transmitter activation in the first 15 years of the watch being out on the market, and that around 20 people were actually saved from activating it. Not bad. The transmitter signal reaches about 90 nautical miles on average, but can get out to 200 nautical miles in ideal conditions.
One thing it doesn’t do though: save drug dealers from the cops.