Found: Salvador Dal's 'The Eye Of Time,' Easily One Of The Strangest Watches We've Ever Seen

May 11, 2017

Fun fact: Today is Salvador Dal's birthday, and he would have been 113, were he still with us. Another fun fact: Dal made a series of strange watches during his career and one of them is up for auction in Sotheby's May 17 Impressionist and Modern sale in New York. This little brooch/watch, aptly called The Eye of Time, is unlike anything you've ever seen before. At least I hope so. Salvador Dal and The Eye of Time. The Eye of Time is part of a suite of jewelry designed by Dal between 1941 and 1970. The collection was made up of 39 pieces that included the eye-form brooch featuring a small watch that we have here. Since I already know the first question you're going to ask, it's a tiny Movado movement inside, though we don't know much more about the technical side of this watch than that.? There are only four known examples of this work, and two have come up for auction at Sotheby's over the past three years. The first appeared in 2014 and was estimated at $250,000-$350,000, though it eventually sold for a whopping $1,055,000. I actually was working at Sotheby's at the time and I remember this being a truly shocking price, but hey, a Dal is a Dal, even if it's a strange little watch. The second, which was attributed as "After Salvator Dali," sold in 2016, but it was in far worse condition and had no dial signature. It was estimated at $20,000-$30,000, selling for $32,500.? This brings us to the lot we have here, which is estimated at $300,000-$400,000. This version of?The Eye of Time?is a beautiful example that measures 7cm across with a signature along the bottom of the enamel iris. The case is made of platinum and set with (a ton of) diamonds and rubies. The Eye of Time was originally designed by Dal for his wife Gala, and became the crown jewel in his jewelry collection. While the design was all Dal, the piece itself was made by Argentinian jeweler Carlos Alemany.? The story behind this example is that a Philadelphia banker, Cummins Catherwood, and his wife Ellengowen, commissioned 22 pieces of jewelry from Dal in 1949. When the collection was later acquired in 1958 by the Owen Cheatham Foundation, Mrs. Catherwood missed?The Eye of Time so much that she convinced Dal to make another for her to keep. That second version is the one you see here.? Madelle Hegler modeling Dal jewelry, including The Eye of Time, in 1959. This little gem of a watch is one of the many cool mid-century timepieces that can be found from time to time. One of the coolest things about watches is that they can be found in many different forms with many different functions.?This edition of?The Eye of Time is lot 314 in the May 17 Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale at Sotheby's New York, with an estimate of $300,000-$400,000. For more, visit Sotheby's online.