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Edgar Mitchell, sixth man to walk on the moon.
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NASA Astronaut Edgar Mitchell
Apollo-flown Rolex GMT-Master 1675
Behind The Scenes at the Auction House
— Exclusive —
By Danny Crivello
When NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell's GMT-Master that flew on Apollo 14 received a bid of half a million dollars this week, exceeding the estimate by $100,000, I decided to call Bobby Livingston, the executive vice-president at Boston-based RR Auction, which is consigning the astronaut's watch.
After all, the bid still had another 10 days before it closed. The sky was the limit, or, rather, space.
"It's really looking great, Danny, but you never know," Livingston said. "You're trying to keep your expectations moderate. In my line of business, at least, we are very conservative about how we deal with things, and we'd rather exceed expectations," he said.
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| Edgar Mitchell's Rolex GMT-Master 1675 |
Watch collectors are very familiar with Sotheby's, Phillips and Antiquorum for historically significant Rolex watches, like Paul Newman's personal Daytona which shattered records at Phillips seven years ago next week.
So, I wondered why Edgar Mitchell's daughter Karlyn had picked RR Auction to consign arguably the most important GMT-Master in Rolex history. After all, this is the first Rolex that flew to the moon.
"Our auction house sells a lot of astronaut-sourced materials," Livingston told me. "Edgar Mitchell was a client of ours in his lifetime, as well as Gene Cernan, Alan Bean and many of the Apollo astronaut moonwalkers, Dave Scott, Charlie Duke."
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| NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell |
Livingston said he wasn't totally surprised when he received a call from Karlyn Mitchell whose father had sold many space-related items through the auction house during his lifetime. Still, excitement was in the air. "When you get a call like that, you get pretty excited when the children decide to sell," he told me.
As a matter of fact, Livingston was so excited, he had a visit scheduled within 24 hours of Karlyn Mitchell reaching out to RR Auction.
"These opportunites don't come often. The watch has never been on the market. This is coming directly from the daughter of the astronaut," Livingston said.
I could almost feel Livingston's pulse quicken as he said this. "The condition is gorgeous. The provenance is perfect. There's a letter from the astronaut. There are photos of him wearing it. It's got everything you want in a watch that went to the moon."
In one of the black-and-white pictures I remember seeing of Edgar Mitchell, he is leaning over a table, carefully winding his Rolex during mission-prep. Or maybe was he setting the time? He wore the white astronaut suit, a NASA-logo patch strapped on his chest, the U.S. flag on his arm. On the table lying behind two big white astronaut gloves was a second Rolex.
I also remembered the story told among space and watch enthusiasts — a dangerous crossover — that Mitchell wanted each of his daughters to have an Apollo-flown wristwatch. Two daughters, two Rolex watches. Bingo.
So, I decided to ask Livingston whether another Edgar Mitchell Rolex will be auctioned off by Mitchell's second daughter Elizabeth. "I've not been approached about the second watch," he carefully said while weighing each word.
I felt there was more to the story, but I didn't press. Livingston said, almost to appease me, the auction house's focus was on this watch.
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| Bobby Levingston, Executive Vice-President of RR Auction |
The GMT-Master 1675 being auctioned is over 50 years old. Livingston told me the watch had mostly resided in a safe deposit box for years. "[Karlyn] wasn't eager to consign it. It was very sentimental to her," he said. "But she understood it had incredible value and it should get into the hands of the next generation of watch collectors and institutions that are going to take care of it."
As I finished speaking with him, Livingston admitted to me he wasn't a watch guy. I wish I could say I judged him, being the executive vice-president of such an important auction house — of such an important piece — but I didn't. I almost envied him, to be honest. He, unlike me, was free of this consuming passion.
But then he added: "I just think it's fascinating, Danny, the crossover that exists between watch collecting and the space program. The government went with Omega, but the astronauts love their Rolex. I think that's wonderful that the astronauts themselves were watch enthusiasts."
Learn more about the auction here.
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| Astronaut Edgar Mitchell with wife and daughters. |
