Phillips will feature a rare Ref. 6152/1 with “Marina Militare” dial in their Winning Icons – Legendary Watches of the 20th Century, which will be held on Thursday, 26 October 2017. The watch was recorded in our database in 2007 with a “non-matching” Ref. 6152 caseback. Taking the documented history for granted, this watch came directly from a veteran of the COMSUBIN and sold to the collector (the current owner / consignor) in the same year.

In 2013, the current owner of this Ref. 6152/1 added a very rare Ref. 6152 / Type B into his collection, which was recorded in our database with a “non-matching” Ref. 6152/1 caseback (read more here). Due to these circumstances, the owner of both watches (the Ref. 6152 with “non-matching” 6152/1 caseback and the Ref. 6152/1 with “non-matching” 6152 caseback) was able to swop the casebacks to get “matching” casebacks on both of his watches. The result was, that his 6152 / Type B has a “matching” 6152 caseback and the current lot 39 comes with “matching” Ref. 6152/1 caseback (engraved with S.M.Z M.M. 170). Lot 39 is published in our book “The References” 1950’s-1960’s on page 894-901.

Furthermore we take into account that over the years we have recorded several Ref. 6152/1 watches with “non-matching” casebacks of the Ref. 6152. The first surfaced Ref. 6152 / Type B watch was recorded in 2010 with a “non-matching” caseback of a Ref. 6152/1, too. The owner of this watch was able to swop the caseback with a “matching” Ref. 6152 caseback as well. More about this can be read on page 767 in chapter VI.II of our book “The References” 1950’s-1960’s.

At the release date of our book “The References” 1950’s-1960’s, 87 specimen of the Ref. 6152/1 with Rolex movement were recorded in our database, and only 23 of them come with an 8 mm crown like the present watch on auction (the other 64 Ref. 6152/1 watches with Rolex movements have a Panerai crown-protecting devicve). Lot 39 is one of only eight watches of the Ref. 6152/1 with Rolex crown, which comes with a “Marina Militare” dial, known until today.

Further info on this watch (lot 39) can be found here.

We hope that this rare watch will find a good new home and remains surfaced in the Vintage Panerai collectors world. [Ralf Ehlers & Volker Wiegmann]

[Photo with kindly permission / courtesy of www.phillips.com]