Five iconic watches that shaped the course of horology

A great watch can mark a moment in design history. A truly great one absorbs the life around it — the ambition of its maker, the habits of its owner, the era that shaped it.

Part of Christie’s June Luxury Week in New York, the Important Watches sale on 12 June and Watches Online: The New York Edit from 5 June to 17 June, features five especially iconic watches whose appeal extends well beyond rarity or technical achievement.

One introduced a radically new analog display before the digital age existed. Another passed between two men who changed Hollywood forever. One crossed continents in the final years of the Iranian monarchy. Each carries the peculiar intimacy unique to watches: objects worn close to the body, present for private victories, routines, conversations and turning points the history books rarely capture.

In 1921, long before digital displays entered everyday life, Audemars Piguet quietly produced one of the most radical wristwatches of its era. Many brands would later embrace this visual complication. The jumping hour wristwatch marked a bold and forward-thinking departure from convention, replacing traditional hands with apertures displaying minutes and jumping hours in a format that’s strikingly contemporary today.

After nearly three decades in a private collection, this edition from 1928 preserves a fascinating moment when Swiss watchmaking briefly turned futuristic. No flamboyance, no ornament, just a clean architectural dial that feels closer to Bauhaus modernism than the decorative tendencies of the late 1920s. Nearly a century later, it still looks ahead of its time.

There is something wonderfully self-assured about this special-order platinum Cartier Tank Cintrée from 2007. Cintrée, which translates to ‘curved’ in French, is regarded as the most refined version of the Tank silhouette with its elongated curved case.

Arriving in the Collection of Todd Michael Glaser, the familiar restraint of this model gives way to vivid red Arabic numerals and crisp white gold Breguet hands, an unusual combination that somehow feels entirely coherent. The Tank Cintrée is still included in Cartier’s current collection today — evidence of its enduring appeal, despite being produced in extremely limited quantities.

Few watches carry a story as cinematic as this early Cartier Tank Normale (widely regarded as the very first Tank wristwatch produced by Cartier), gifted by financier John Hay ‘Jock’ Whitney to legendary producer David O. Selznick following the release of their film, Gone with the Wind. Inscribed simply, ‘David — Xmas, 1939. Praise de Lawd. Jock,’ the watch captures a moment of relief and triumph between two friends who had wagered everything on a film many believed would fail after years of arduous production.

The Tank itself, introduced in 1917, drew inspiration from the aerial geometry of the newly developed Renault FT-17 military tanks. Revolutionary in both form and proportion, it also switched course from the ornate aesthetics of early 20th-century watchmaking in favour of clean geometric lines and balanced symmetry, establishing a timeless Art Deco design.

The appeal of this early Rolex reference 6238 ‘Pre-Daytona’ lies partly in its condition — sharp case, pristine dial, beautifully preserved — but mostly in the life it accompanied. The watch belonged to Colonel Robert J. Barbour, a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot awarded both the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross for combat missions flown during the Korean War.

Produced during Rolex’s transition into the chronograph era that would eventually lead to the iconic Daytona model, the reference 6238 retains a quieter elegance when compared to later models.

Born during the turbulence of the quartz crisis, the Vacheron Constantin 222 was designed by Jörg Hysek as the Maison’s response to the new luxury sports watches pioneered by the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. Angular, ultra-thin and defiantly modern, it embraced the integrated bracelet and industrial elegance redefining sports watch design in the late 1970s, while carving out a distinctly Vacheron identity of its own.

This stainless steel ‘Jumbo’ example was gifted by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, to physician Dr. Ian Robert Verner in recognition of his medical service to the Royal family. The Pahlavi crest engraved on the case back subtly anchors the watch to one of the most politically charged periods of the 20th century.