.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Christie’s is extremely excited and honored to have been entrusted by the family of the late Colonel Patrick Douglas Baird (1912-1984) to present to collectors here for the first time his much treasured expedition-worn early ‘Prototype Pre-Explorer’ Rolex reference 6098. One of the famed group of early Rolex Pre-Explorer watches supplied for the Canadian Arctic Baffin Island Expedition in 1953 by the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research (S.F.A.R.). Colonel Baird was the leader of the expedition that also included Jürg Marmet, whose expedition-worn Rolex Pre-Explorer reference 6298 was sold by Christie’s Geneva, 7 November 2022, lot 127.
The Rolex watches that were utilized as instruments during the truly groundbreaking explorations of the early 1950s are regarded by collectors as the most significant vintage Rolexes of all time. The words used to introduce Jürg Marmet’s reference 6298 for that memorable auction resonate precisely for his expedition leader Patrick Baird’s watch – 'Few Rolex watches are as powerfully evocative as those that accompanied daring and courageous expeditions to some of the most inhospitable parts of the world. The early 1950s was a period of great technological advances that allowed explorers to venture to more extreme and uncharted areas of the globe than ever before. Rolex was wisely often at the forefront of such adventures, the company benefitting enormously from the attendant publicity resulting from a Rolex watch performing well under extreme conditions. To this end, the company supplied watches to the team members of some of the great land and sea explorations of the 20th century'. The present watch is one such timepiece and is particularly exciting, having been worn by the expedition leader himself during the extremely well documented S.F.A.R 1953 expedition to Baffin island. Treasured by both Patrick Baird and his family. The entire dial has aged naturally and displays the full patina over the past 70 years of aging. So important to preserve in such a historic timepiece, the case is also excellently preserved with clearly legible reference and serial numbers. It also features steel strap bars that are entirely fixed within the lugs in place of the usual spring bars. This is a particular feature of Rolexes intended for field expedition use so that the strap cannot become accidentally detached in hostile environments, lessening the possibility of losing the watch 'head'.
Patrick Douglas Baird
Few human beings in history have had a whole geographical area of Earth named after them. Patrick Baird is one of those few, the Baird Peninsula off Baffin Island in Canada’s Arctic region officially bears his name for eternity.
Patrick Baird (1912-1984) was one of the key figures involved in the early expeditions to the vast tracts of the Canadian Arctic region in the 20th century. He was both a real adventurer and expedition leader, yet he was also a formidable academic. His tireless work in the pursuit of scientific knowledge and his dedication to research in order to pass his knowledge on to others is universally acknowledged.
A Scottish glaciologist, Baird was born the fourth son of Brigadier-General E.W.D. Baird of Caithness, Scotland, and was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in Geology.
As an undergraduate, Patrick Baird had been a member of Professor (later Sir James) Wordie’s 1934 expedition to West Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. It was in Baffin Island that Baird first set foot in Canada and his love of the Arctic was established. Early on and after working for around a year as a geologist in Africa, he joined the British-Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1936-1939, exploring Southampton Island, the Melville Peninsula, and Baffin Island. In 1939 he crossed Bylot Island and sailed in the Hudson Bay Company's ship R.M.S. Nascopie to join the Royal Canadian Artillery. During the war he was concerned with paratrooper training in Scotland and with Arctic and mountain warfare training back in Canada, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He achieved a measure of celebrity status in 1945/46 when he successfully led the main party in 'Exercise Muskox' on a 3400-mile expedition around the Canadian Arctic from Churchill via Victoria Island and Coppermine to the Peace River.
In 1946 he was appointed chief of the Arctic Section of the Canadian Defense Research Board and the following year appointed Director of the Montreal Office of the Arctic Institute of North America- an organization established to improve Canadian scientific and technical expertise in the Arctic. During his time there, he organized and led two major expeditions to Baffin Island, one in 1950 to the Barnes Ice Cap region, and the other in 1953 to the Pangnirtung Pass and Penny Highlands area. In the later, he carried out the first glaciological investigations in the Canadian Arctic. Baird became an acknowledged authority on mountain glacier research and arctic mountaineering.
In 1954 he returned to his native Scotland to work for five years as a senior research fellow in Geography at the University of Aberdeen. Years later in 1959, he returned to Canada as director of the Gault Estate of McGill University at Mont-St-Hilaire, Quebec and as supervisor of Northern Field Studies in the Department of Geography.
In 1952 Patrick Baird was awarded the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for 'his explorations in the Canadian Arctic'. Other awards he received included the Bruce Memorial Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. The Baird Peninsula of Baffin Island is named after him.
The Story of Rolex No. 916’487 - Baffin Island 1953
The present reference 6098, a so-called ‘prototype pre-explorer’ was one of those supplied by Rolex to the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research for the 1953 joint Canadian and Swiss team expedition to Baffin Island (Baffinland in German). This expedition, for scientific purposes, was the second such expedition and followed an earlier successful expedition in 1950. The 1953 expedition was led by Colonel P. D. Baird, and the Swiss members were: Hans Röthlisberger, Jürg Marmet, F. H. Schwarzenbach and Jean Weber. Watch number 916’487, was issued to expedition leader Patrick Baird and the back of the case is engraved 'To Col. P.D. Baird from the S.F.A.R. Zurich, 1953'. The interior of the screw-down back is stamped 'IV 52', Rolex’s code for the fourth quarter of 1952.
In 1953, the granite peaks of Baffin Island were just being discovered. In that year, the Arctic Institute of North America in cooperation with S.F.A.R. sent an expedition to the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island for the first time. Led by Patrick Baird, Director of the Arctic Institute and leading expert on Baffin Island, the expedition’s main objective was scientific. However, mountaineering was high on the agenda. During the four months that the scientists were in the field, they climbed eight mountains, including the centrepiece of the region, Mount Asgard. The slightly higher North Peak of Asgard was first ascended during the expedition by J. Weber, Jürg Marmet, and Hans Röthlisberger. In late August, Patrick Baird and Jürg Marmet successfully climbed another major peak that they christened ‘The Queen’, now named Mount Odin. The present Rolex would have accompanied Baird on every one of his exploits during this epic expedition, some of which were the first time a human being would have set foot atop those unimaginably remote peaks.
The following text is an edited extract from the detailed account of the Canadian/Swiss Baffin Island Expeditions, 1950 and 1953. The full account is available from the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, 1939 to 1970. Published in Zurich in 1972.
The scientific expedition was led by the Canadian Colonel P.D. Baird and organised and implemented by the Arctic Institute of North America, Montreal, in collaboration with the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research. The aim and task of the enterprises was primarily to carry out glaciological investigations. However, meteorological, geological, botanical and zoological observations were also gathered, and topographical and cartographical records were taken. Although the primary purpose of the expeditions was for scientific research, mountaineering results were also obtained.
1953 Expedition
The aim and tasks of the expedition were more or less the same as in 1950, but the working area this time was the Cumberland peninsula in the east of Baffin Island. This is a mountainous area with boldly-formed rock peaks and plateau glaciers, at an average height of 2000 metres. Once again, the expedition was mainly mounted for scientific purposes, but it also presented some wonderful mountaineering opportunities.
According to the strategy worked out by Colonel Baird, an investigation would be undertaken to establish whether a corn snow area existed on the top of the Penny Ice Cap. The thickness of the ice and the speed of flow were to be measured here and at various points on the typical Highway glacier that flowed to the coast. A geomorphologic investigation of the Pangnirtung Pass region was also to be undertaken, as was a geological, botanical and zoological study of the area, in line with the particular skills and interests of the scientists involved. The months of May to August were available for this programme to be carried out.
The tasks demanded of our four Swiss men involved laborious work in difficult terrain, within an unexplored mountain area under polar (i.e. unusually hard) weather conditions. A programme of seismic measurements of the ice thickness was carried out under the experienced leadership of Hans Röthlisberger of the Institute of Geophysics at the ETH, and this was supplemented by geological and glaciological observations. F. H. Schwarzenbach from the Botanical Institute at the University of Zurich attended to botanical, zoological and morphological questions, while Jürg Marmet from the Institute of Hygiene and Employment Physiology at the ETH carried out physiological observations. All four of these participants were also experienced mountaineers, and whenever their primary scientific duties allowed, they enjoyed the particularly exciting task of exploring and ascending completely new terrain.
The Rolex watches that were utilized as instruments during the truly groundbreaking explorations of the early 1950s are regarded by collectors as the most significant vintage Rolexes of all time. The words used to introduce Jürg Marmet’s reference 6298 for that memorable auction resonate precisely for his expedition leader Patrick Baird’s watch – 'Few Rolex watches are as powerfully evocative as those that accompanied daring and courageous expeditions to some of the most inhospitable parts of the world. The early 1950s was a period of great technological advances that allowed explorers to venture to more extreme and uncharted areas of the globe than ever before. Rolex was wisely often at the forefront of such adventures, the company benefitting enormously from the attendant publicity resulting from a Rolex watch performing well under extreme conditions. To this end, the company supplied watches to the team members of some of the great land and sea explorations of the 20th century'. The present watch is one such timepiece and is particularly exciting, having been worn by the expedition leader himself during the extremely well documented S.F.A.R 1953 expedition to Baffin island. Treasured by both Patrick Baird and his family. The entire dial has aged naturally and displays the full patina over the past 70 years of aging. So important to preserve in such a historic timepiece, the case is also excellently preserved with clearly legible reference and serial numbers. It also features steel strap bars that are entirely fixed within the lugs in place of the usual spring bars. This is a particular feature of Rolexes intended for field expedition use so that the strap cannot become accidentally detached in hostile environments, lessening the possibility of losing the watch 'head'.
Patrick Douglas Baird
Few human beings in history have had a whole geographical area of Earth named after them. Patrick Baird is one of those few, the Baird Peninsula off Baffin Island in Canada’s Arctic region officially bears his name for eternity.
Patrick Baird (1912-1984) was one of the key figures involved in the early expeditions to the vast tracts of the Canadian Arctic region in the 20th century. He was both a real adventurer and expedition leader, yet he was also a formidable academic. His tireless work in the pursuit of scientific knowledge and his dedication to research in order to pass his knowledge on to others is universally acknowledged.
A Scottish glaciologist, Baird was born the fourth son of Brigadier-General E.W.D. Baird of Caithness, Scotland, and was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in Geology.
As an undergraduate, Patrick Baird had been a member of Professor (later Sir James) Wordie’s 1934 expedition to West Greenland and the Canadian Arctic. It was in Baffin Island that Baird first set foot in Canada and his love of the Arctic was established. Early on and after working for around a year as a geologist in Africa, he joined the British-Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1936-1939, exploring Southampton Island, the Melville Peninsula, and Baffin Island. In 1939 he crossed Bylot Island and sailed in the Hudson Bay Company's ship R.M.S. Nascopie to join the Royal Canadian Artillery. During the war he was concerned with paratrooper training in Scotland and with Arctic and mountain warfare training back in Canada, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He achieved a measure of celebrity status in 1945/46 when he successfully led the main party in 'Exercise Muskox' on a 3400-mile expedition around the Canadian Arctic from Churchill via Victoria Island and Coppermine to the Peace River.
In 1946 he was appointed chief of the Arctic Section of the Canadian Defense Research Board and the following year appointed Director of the Montreal Office of the Arctic Institute of North America- an organization established to improve Canadian scientific and technical expertise in the Arctic. During his time there, he organized and led two major expeditions to Baffin Island, one in 1950 to the Barnes Ice Cap region, and the other in 1953 to the Pangnirtung Pass and Penny Highlands area. In the later, he carried out the first glaciological investigations in the Canadian Arctic. Baird became an acknowledged authority on mountain glacier research and arctic mountaineering.
In 1954 he returned to his native Scotland to work for five years as a senior research fellow in Geography at the University of Aberdeen. Years later in 1959, he returned to Canada as director of the Gault Estate of McGill University at Mont-St-Hilaire, Quebec and as supervisor of Northern Field Studies in the Department of Geography.
In 1952 Patrick Baird was awarded the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for 'his explorations in the Canadian Arctic'. Other awards he received included the Bruce Memorial Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. The Baird Peninsula of Baffin Island is named after him.
The Story of Rolex No. 916’487 - Baffin Island 1953
The present reference 6098, a so-called ‘prototype pre-explorer’ was one of those supplied by Rolex to the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research for the 1953 joint Canadian and Swiss team expedition to Baffin Island (Baffinland in German). This expedition, for scientific purposes, was the second such expedition and followed an earlier successful expedition in 1950. The 1953 expedition was led by Colonel P. D. Baird, and the Swiss members were: Hans Röthlisberger, Jürg Marmet, F. H. Schwarzenbach and Jean Weber. Watch number 916’487, was issued to expedition leader Patrick Baird and the back of the case is engraved 'To Col. P.D. Baird from the S.F.A.R. Zurich, 1953'. The interior of the screw-down back is stamped 'IV 52', Rolex’s code for the fourth quarter of 1952.
In 1953, the granite peaks of Baffin Island were just being discovered. In that year, the Arctic Institute of North America in cooperation with S.F.A.R. sent an expedition to the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island for the first time. Led by Patrick Baird, Director of the Arctic Institute and leading expert on Baffin Island, the expedition’s main objective was scientific. However, mountaineering was high on the agenda. During the four months that the scientists were in the field, they climbed eight mountains, including the centrepiece of the region, Mount Asgard. The slightly higher North Peak of Asgard was first ascended during the expedition by J. Weber, Jürg Marmet, and Hans Röthlisberger. In late August, Patrick Baird and Jürg Marmet successfully climbed another major peak that they christened ‘The Queen’, now named Mount Odin. The present Rolex would have accompanied Baird on every one of his exploits during this epic expedition, some of which were the first time a human being would have set foot atop those unimaginably remote peaks.
The following text is an edited extract from the detailed account of the Canadian/Swiss Baffin Island Expeditions, 1950 and 1953. The full account is available from the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, 1939 to 1970. Published in Zurich in 1972.
The scientific expedition was led by the Canadian Colonel P.D. Baird and organised and implemented by the Arctic Institute of North America, Montreal, in collaboration with the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research. The aim and task of the enterprises was primarily to carry out glaciological investigations. However, meteorological, geological, botanical and zoological observations were also gathered, and topographical and cartographical records were taken. Although the primary purpose of the expeditions was for scientific research, mountaineering results were also obtained.
1953 Expedition
The aim and tasks of the expedition were more or less the same as in 1950, but the working area this time was the Cumberland peninsula in the east of Baffin Island. This is a mountainous area with boldly-formed rock peaks and plateau glaciers, at an average height of 2000 metres. Once again, the expedition was mainly mounted for scientific purposes, but it also presented some wonderful mountaineering opportunities.
According to the strategy worked out by Colonel Baird, an investigation would be undertaken to establish whether a corn snow area existed on the top of the Penny Ice Cap. The thickness of the ice and the speed of flow were to be measured here and at various points on the typical Highway glacier that flowed to the coast. A geomorphologic investigation of the Pangnirtung Pass region was also to be undertaken, as was a geological, botanical and zoological study of the area, in line with the particular skills and interests of the scientists involved. The months of May to August were available for this programme to be carried out.
The tasks demanded of our four Swiss men involved laborious work in difficult terrain, within an unexplored mountain area under polar (i.e. unusually hard) weather conditions. A programme of seismic measurements of the ice thickness was carried out under the experienced leadership of Hans Röthlisberger of the Institute of Geophysics at the ETH, and this was supplemented by geological and glaciological observations. F. H. Schwarzenbach from the Botanical Institute at the University of Zurich attended to botanical, zoological and morphological questions, while Jürg Marmet from the Institute of Hygiene and Employment Physiology at the ETH carried out physiological observations. All four of these participants were also experienced mountaineers, and whenever their primary scientific duties allowed, they enjoyed the particularly exciting task of exploring and ascending completely new terrain.