29th Nov, 2023 10:00
Fine Watches Auction
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer: a steel cased automatic wristwatch, ref 1016
Sold for £6,000
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer: a steel cased automatic wristwatch, ref 1016, serial no. 1733xxx circa 1967, the black 369 and baton dial marked 'superlative chronometer officially certified', the automatic movement cal 1570 no.D025xxx, the inside case back stamped with ref 1016 above 'IV.67' for last quarter of 1967, the later Rolex graduated steel link strap (probably a replacement) with 501B ends and first link numbered 78360, case 36mm wide, no box or papers, watch only.
Provenance: British Antarctic Survey interest. Belonged to Ian ‘Spike’ Sykes was born and raised in Leeds during the Second World War. A climber since his youth, he joined the RAF at sixteen, working on the Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team in the Scottish Highlands during a number of dramatic rescues. After leaving the RAF he worked with the British Antarctic Survey on the southern polar ice cap, where he ran a dog team and worked as a guide for the Survey’s field scientists. Back in Scotland, Spike and Ian Sutherland identified an opportunity for a climbing and outdoor equipment shop in the Highlands, and the first Nevisport shop was born. Both remained as members of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue, the UK’s busiest team. Spike was also instrumental in the development of the ski area at Nevis Range on Aonach Mor, where he stayed on as managing director for twelve years. He is currently a director of Nevis Range, which is now also internationally renowned as a mountain biking centre. Spike was awarded an MBE in 1990 for services to sport and mountain rescue, and in 2011 he received the Scottish Award for Excellence in Mountain Culture. His first book, Cry Argentina (978-1-846248-71-9), a semi-fictional account of the build-up to the invasion of South Georgia in the Falklands War, was published in 2013. In the Shadow of Ben Nevis is his second book. Spike lives in Fort William with his partner Gay, and has a daughter Eilidh.
The below letter from 'Spike' regarding his watch.
"I joined British Antarctic Survey in Autumn 1967 as a GA, effectively as a guide for scientists working on the Antarctic continent. I was 25 and had been in the RAF and an instructor in Outward Bound. I sailed from Southampton on the RRS Shackleton and arrived in Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands a month later.
We were paid the princely sum of £500 a year, because for the next two and a half years I was to be in Antarctica my pay went directly into an account that accrued accordingly. It was an easy way for a young man to bank a couple of thousand pounds in less than three years, a princely sum in those days.
I bought my Rolex Watch in Binnie’s General Store in Port Stanley, this was many years before the Falkland War and Stanley was a Tax-free Port. I then sailed on to my base, Stonington Island, about halfway down the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, where I picked up my dog team and spent the next two and a half very exciting years.
The Rolex Explorer chronometer was the best watch I could afford at the time. It was long before the days of digital watches and has been dead accurate ever since the day I bought it."
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Auction: Fine Watches Auction, 29th Nov, 2023
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