CHRISTIE'S GENEVA AUCTIONFollowing my review of the Phillips watch auctions last week, my brother (Roy) and I took a look at Christie's upcoming auction catalog and had the pleasure of viewing the watches with Thomas Perrazi in Geneva. Thomas and the team have focused on vintage versus modern in recent auctions following a global trend from collectors. In regards to the team, we also had the pleasure of seeing Marie Stauffer at Christie's as she has just moved over from Sotheby's (part of a pretty common game of musical chairs among auction houses). Along with Sabine, Marcello and Richard, the Christie's Geneva watch department team is solid and has put together a great catalog with a large variety of brands and models. On a side note, we learned about the new Christie's watch department policy that lots estimated under 10'000 Swiss Francs are automatically without reserve as of 2016. Just in case anyone was wondering why all those lots are in red.RARE WATCHES INCLUDING IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTIONSThe Christie's watch auction, which takes place on Monday May 16th in Geneva, is comprised of 276 lots. This is an ideal size for a catalog as it keeps the balance between the high-end record setters' and the more democratic pieces that we could actually imagine on our wrists. Out of the 276 lots, there are 70 es, 47 Patek Philippe and 25 Omegas, so this means the other half of the catalog offers variety. Variety is great!The smaller dedicated sections for brands like Piaget, Heuer, Longines, Breguet and Omega Speedmasters are neatly organized and make browsing a pleasure. Within the catalog, there are also two major private collections as mentioned in the title of the auction. One is Breguet collection including 6 important pieces from a local private collector and the other is a sports model Patek Philippe collection. In addition, we usually don't focus on pocket watches, but one Breguet pocket watch, which coincidentally is not part of the private collection lots, but rather excellent timing on the seller's part, stood out to us as particularly stunning: Lot 121, an osmior' case art deco jumping hour pocket watch with a rich provenance. Osmior is a term for an antique gold alloy containing osmium and which shares a similar aesthetic to platinum.Here are some of the interesting wristwatches we enjoyed and decided to share:LOT 42 5512 Explorer Dial, 1962As with all brands using radium dials in the 1950's, the AEC (Atom Energy Comission) began imposing norms for acceptable radiation levels in the early 1960's. During the transition from radium to tritium, in 1962, dials' luminous material was adapted with lower radiation and had an exclamation mark' lume plot to signal this change. Afterwards, dials with even lower radiation levels using only tritium were marked with an underline to signal the absence of radium in 1963-1964. Then, dials with T stamped on them replaced the old SWISS only dials entirely and no longer needed the underline. As far as a pointy crown guard 5512 with an Explorer dial is already very rare, the exclamation mark indication makes it more so. We know there are some issues with this watch, but it has been through service several times and still looks great for its age.Estimate CHF 75,000 ? 120,000