It was a typical rainy week when I visited London last week. I was there for a conference but managed to find some free time to meet a fellow MWR member, James Dowling, the re-knowned connoisseur of vintage Rolex and military watches and author of Best of Time: Rolex Wristwatches. It was quite an honor to be tour guided around London by James, especially the military watch scenes in the city (thank you James). First, I was introduced to various watch dealers in Gray's Antique Market near Oxford street. The dealers here catered to collectors of mid to high-end vintage watches, including British military watches, Rolex, Omega, and Heuer, to name a few. A few of the dealers also had stalls in the Portebello market which opens on Saturday (Gray's Antique Market is closed during the weekends). I forgot the name of the fellow shown below but he had quite an assortment of interesting watches, including various models of Omega Seamaster dive watches, Speedmasters, Heuers chronographs, etc.

One of the military watches he had for sale was a huge B-Uhr Laco. It was in the league of pocket watches in terms of size. Very solidly made and easy to read, although mind you, I have not seen anyone actually wear one. It was supposed to be strapped outside a leather flight jacket. He allowed me to take a couple of quick snap shots so here they are.

During the tour, James showed me his collection of military watches, including a 1st pattern B-Uhr by Lange & Sohne, Explorer dial Rolex Sub that was only sold in the UK market, a chunky looking WW2 era Czechoslovakian Lemania (that thing was bigger than I had imagined), a rare Movado Weems, and a HUGE Panerai depth meter that made the B-Uhr appear like a tiny Hamilton field watch. Also he showed me the elusive Rolex 5517 Submariner which every military watch collectors dream about. It was my very first time to touch an actual 5517 Submariner and I was extremely excited! That watch is now headed to the Rolex museum in Geneve so if anyone's visiting Switzerland, drop by their museum.

By the way, I wore my Rolex 5513 Sub to London. My wife got this for me from James two years ago as a wedding present and it is the watch I wear on a daily basis. I got a new flip-lock bracelet from Rolex UK because the old one was too big for me and even replaced the caseback as it had an engraving. Rolex UK is really professional and courteous. They even had those Rolex catalogues that are sold on ebay for high prices for free :-).

Saturday morning, I headed off to Portobello market. It's one of the biggest antique markets in the world, or so I was told. You can find all sorts of vintage items here. This is the place to be if you want to see some serious actions. The market opens at 7 o'clock in the morning and gets really crowded just before noon. The photo shown above was taken at around 9 o'clock so it is not that crowded yet and there are still some sellers who are just arriving and setting up their tables. James told me you have to get there early in order to find any intersting stuffs and bargains as they are sold by noon.

There was a guy down the street selling assortment of surplus items taken from military aircrafts. He even had unused RAF issue aircraft light bulbs packaged in original wax papers. The light bulbs as well as the wooden box that housed these bulbs had the broadarrow stamped on them, with issue numbers, etc.

He also had a big and heavy Vostok clock for Soviet Submarines. You had to open the glass and wind it manually and it would run for eight days straight. The clocks in the background were apparently from a MIG fighter.

James introduced me to a military watch dealer named Paul in one of the stalls. He was selling a book on German Military Timepieces so I got that. Anyway, he showed me a rare British issue Rolex Explorer marked "H.S.10 C.D." for hydrographic survey. It was one of the early Explorers with bubble back movement. Here are some snap shots I took.

We were walking along the Portobello street and came upon an interesting building. For some obscure reason, it had a broadarrow mark on the doorway.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I purchased a couple of vintage NATO bands, the one with stitching. Got them for $13 a piece. They were used but still good ol' NATO. I think these would look proper on vintage British issue watches.

A guy behind the dealer who sold me the NATO bands had some pretty exotic Rolex watches. He had a black dialed Milgauss. I heard these watches go for more than ten grand because of rarity and the fact that it is no longer in production. It was made to be very antimagnetic, suitable for scientists who worked in labs and such. I remember some guy mentioning that Milgauss was a nerd watch... I think should get it someday 8-).

Just before we parted, James introduced me to David, a fellow watch collector who had a small stand across 101 Portobellow street (where James used to have his). He had a few vintage dive watches, a really nice Heuer chrono, and a 1973 dated Royal Navy issue CWC chronograph. I had a nice long chat with him and even pursuaded him to check out MWR (Hi David!).

David showed me one of his recent finds... a WW1-era Rolex military watch for Tank officer. It had a mesh grill for protection and was strapped to a wide leather band.

Sorry about the bad focus. I must have shaken the camera when I took them. Anyway, I was leaving London that day and that CWC chrono David was selling really bothered me. It was really calling me out and with the recent problem with Sinn, the CWC could be my real chrono. Well, to make the story short, I purchased the CWC from David and was glad I made the decision. A very nice souvenir from London. Well, here are some photos I took at a cafe before heading to airport.

Well, that's all folks! Be sure to visit Portobello and Gray's Antique Market for military watches in London!

Hyunsuk's Random Notes

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