Gentlemen, turn up the volume to the max and let yourself be carried away by the notes of the most famous English bluesman in history: today the spotlight is on Eric Clapton’s watches.
Iced out AP, Aftermarket diamond-set Nautilus, Rainbow Daytona… all strictly sung on autotune. The recent music scene has accustomed us to being dazzled by the reflection of diamonds on the bezel, without any interest in the watch itself and its beauty.
But not all is lost. If blues is not for you, we are sure that we’ll be able to let you feel some heavy emotions anyway…
Eric Patrick Clapton was born in England in 1945 and for his thirteenth birthday he asked for an acoustic guitar to imitate those overseas idols he always listened to.
As we often notice, however, realize your dreams overnight isn’t that easy.
Hours and hours, day after day, in the mind of little Clapton, exasperation leads to the idea of abandoning the guitar. “Too hard,” he thinks.
But if there is anything stronger than disappointment, it is a child’s dream.
Experimenting between traditional blues and psychedelic rock, Eric Clapton made it, so much so that today he is on the podium of the best guitarists in history.
His collection
Little Clapton, however, dreamed that, on the wrist of the hand that he would play the guitar in front of millions of people around the world, there was a nice watch. Just as he realized the desire to become a great bluesman, even this dream was not disappointed. And as he became one of the greatest guitarists in history, with watches it was no less.
Alongside his Fender we can admire breathtaking pieces, between Rolex and Patek Philippe, among unique pieces, prototypes and custom orders.
Choosing from Eric Clapton’s immense collection is not an easy task, but in the tradition of ItalianWatchSpotter we decided to introduce you to a selection of the rarest pieces.
Rolex Cosmograph “Oyster Albino”
So, let’s start to discover the wrist of “Slow Hand” with one of its most peculiar pieces. For this actual example of Rolex Cosmograph ref. 6263 there are only four in the world that can boast the nickname “Oyster Albino”.
(Don’t you remember exactly the difference between ref. 6263 and the others? Take a peek at our Daytona Guide! )
The simplicity of this watch – and its charm – lies in the fact that, as in the pre-Daytona ref.6238, the silver color of the dial is unchanged in the sub-dials and is beautifully framed by the black bakelite bezel.
Auctioned to fund a charity campaign in 2015, it was acquired by the new owner for the sum of 1.4 million dollars.
Patek Philippe 5970
And always 1 in 4 we talk with this Patek Philippe ref. 5970, made an only-piece by the customization personally requested by Eric Clapton to the brand.
The choice of the Oyster Albino let us understand the artist’s taste, so much so that for his own 5970 Clapton has chosen a unique model in white gold and silver dial, with Breguet numerals and bracelet in the same metal as the case.
Want to discover the detailed features of this timepiece? You find everything in our dedicated article!
Rolex Yacht-Master
If you are still not fully convinced of the exceptionality of Clapton’s collection, if “1 out of 4, made a unique piece” is not enough, the next watch will convince you: we go down, 1 out of 3.
As you’ll surely be wondering, this is not the classic Submariner’s cousin with platinum bezel, but something decidedly more special.
Looking at the bezel, from a distance it may look like a Daytona with leather bracelet, but if we get a little closer, we will immediately notice those colored stripes under the sub-dial on the right. From the Daytona Beach race track, Rolex has moved beyond the beach to take the Daytona to a regatta.
So how can Rolex call this new sailboat watch? Easy! Yacht-Master.
The dial was manufactured in 1967, the watch assembled in 1969 in a 39.5 mm case. The project was then abandoned and completely revised in the 1990s by Rolex, to give life to the new millennium’s Submariner.
Only three prototypes were produced, none destined for sale, but actually only one is kept in Rolex’s vault.
Where is the third? Much closer than you can imagine…
Rolex
After some strong feelings let’s calm down with some common pieces.
Apart from the two Rolexes seen before, the artist likes the brand pretty much, so that he wears it really often.
it’s common in fact, to see the man playing live with his GMT, Milgauss or Submariner, if you look around on the internet.
Let’s see some together:
Rolex GMT Master II ref.116710 LN – Market Price 7.800€
You can find here the birth of this mith.
Rolex Milgauss ref. 116400 GV, with a market price of 7.600€ is the most common watch you can see Eric Clapton with.
You want to know more about it? Go check the article here!
Rolex Submariner “Red Sub” ref. 1680 – Market price: 20.000€
You can find it in a detailed way here.
Patek Philippe Chronographs
Apart from the more renowned 5970/1G previously seen, Eric Clapton has many other Patek Philippe pieces, all with one thing in common: the complication!
The first one we see is a Patek Philippe ref. 5975. It’s one of the few “multi-scale” chronos we discussed here, and also one of the most peculiar looking.
Clapton’s watch was put up for sale online this year, at 99.900€, after that, in 2003, the musician sold part of his collection.
Another once-in-a-lifetime watch of Eric Clapton is this Patek Philippe ref. 3970 in white gold with salmon dial. The one you see below, Clapton’s true piece, was sold by Phillips for 410.000€.
Bought on the same day as the one above, we find this Patek Philippe Ref. 3970 in yellow gold with white dial, probably the same watch we see Clapton wearing in the picture.
If all that wasn’t enough…let’s move on to something better.
From the 3970 let’s jump to the Patek Philippe Ref. 5004, an evolution of ref.3970 with a spit-seconds complication added.
Just one?! No! Two…
Both were sold at auction, the blue totalizing 806.400€ while the black closed at 403.000€ circa.
We love to conclude with the best, so we chose the only Patek Philippe Ref.2499 in platinum ever made worldwide. This watch two, if you were asking, was Eric Clapton ‘s property.
Sold by Christie’s in 2012 for almost 3.5M CHF, we wonder how much it would go for today. We hope this little beast shows up for auction again pretty soon.
Concluding…
From the room where he dreamed of travelling the world, Clapton made his way to make millions of hearts beat to the notes of his guitar. Although blues may not be your favorite genre, we’re sure this little excerpt from his collection has still shaken your watchgeek hearts!
Eric Clapton teaches us never to give up, even when challenges seem too big, and chasing our dreams because, although it will not be easy, frustration is never stronger than desires.
