“It did its job.”

That seems like a modest standard for any piece of equipment, but the job of a watch wrapped around the wrist of Don Walsh was no ordinary day at the office. 

Walsh, a retired naval officer, spent the majority of his career exploring deep oceans and the polar regions as an oceanographer and ocean engineer. In January 1960, he and Swiss oceanographer and engineer Jacques Piccard piloted a deep submersible vessel, the bathyscaph  Trieste, to the deepest place in the World Ocean: the Challenger Deep in Marianas Trench, some 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest off the island of Guam. The mission reached an ultimate depth of 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) — greater than the height of Mount Everest. During the expedition, which earned the cover of the February 15, 1960, edition of  Life magazine, Walsh wore a magnificent  “JeanRichard Aquastar 60” Iconic And Historically Important Ref. 1581 Stainless Steel Dive Wristwatch, circa 1959  — one of the centerpiece offerings  in in Heritage’s November 15 Watches & Fine Timepieces Signature® Auction .

Some watches can handle tough conditions; Walsh’s Aquastar has been to the deepest depths in the world’s oceans — three times.

“I think, as a Navy dude and commanding officer of the bathyscaph Trieste, I just required stuff to do its job, whether it’s people or devices or equipment,” Walsh says. “We got it, it was standard stock. There’s this thing called ‘Mil-Spec’ — Military Specification — and if we ordered a watch through the Navy supply system, Mil-Spec, it probably would withstand a direct hit by an H-bomb, chemical warfare agents, and all of that. But I didn’t need that. I just wanted a simple watch that kept time, and that’s what it did. It did its job.”

This extraordinary watch — one of three from Walsh in the auction, a group that includes a prototype for a newer version of the Aquastar 60  — is one of three Aquastar 60s purchased for Walsh and fellow  Trieste team members Dr. Andy Rechnitzer and Larry Shumaker in 1959 from a dive shop in San Diego. In addition to its trip to the ocean floor, this iconic timepiece graced Walsh’s wrist at the White House when President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented Walsh with the Legion of Merit for his explorations with  Trieste.

“We are fortunate at Heritage Auctions to have sold numerous watches in the past that have increased value because of the fame of the people who previously owned them,” says Jim Wolf, Director of Watches and Fine Timepieces at Heritage Auctions. “What is most impressive about this watch is the fact that it was purchased with a purpose in mind — to be worn and used in some of the most rigorous conditions on earth. It’s not so much something he wore as it is a part of him, part of one of the elite marine adventurers of all time.”

That the watch reached the deepest part of the ocean once is extraordinary … but that was not its only deep dive. At Walsh’s request, Triton Submarines president Patrick Lahey wore it when he piloted the sub  Limiting Factor  to the seafloor at Challenger Deep May 3, 2019; a year later, Walsh’s son, Kelly, teamed with businessman Victor Vescovo to dive  Limiting Factor  to the same location in Challenger Deep that Don had visited six decades before. Along for the ride was Kelly’s father’s beloved timepiece.

“(Kelly) is a brand ambassador for Omega Watches and wore his personal Omega timepiece on the dive,” Don says. “As his dad, I asked him to take my Aquastar on the dive. They achieved a depth of 10,925 meters at the deepest place in the World Ocean. My Aquastar is the only watch that has been to the seafloor at Challenger Deep on three separate expeditions: my dive in 1960,  Limiting Factor in 2019 and 2020.”

Along with Walsh’s Aquastar, two Rolex watches made the 1960 dive: “Piccard wore one, and the other was attached to the outside of the bathyscaph,” Walsh says, “where it was subjected to full depth pressure of eight tons per square inch.”

The location of Piccard’s Rolex is unknown, while the one attached to the outside of the Trieste was given to the Smithsonian, making Walsh’s watch the only one from the mission that is held in private hands.

Another out-of-this-world lot in the auction is an  Omega, Very Rare And Important Gold Speedmaster Professional Wristwatch, No. 6, Presented To Astronaut Scott Carpenter, circa 1969 , and was consigned to Heritage by Carpenter’s son and is the first from a “Mercury Seven” astronaut ever offered at Heritage Auctions. Ten years before, Carpenter was one of seven men chosen to take part in the Mercury Project — the United States’ first attempt to put man in space. This Omega “Moonwatch” Speedmaster, reference 145.022-69 BA belonged to Carpenter, and was one of 26 gifted to astronauts by Omega in 1969. Carpenter was the sixth man to be successfully launched into space, and the second American to successfully orbit the earth aboard the Aurora-7.  

A Rolex, Extremely Rare Ref. 6098 “Stelline” Honeycomb Dial, Oyster “Pre-Explorer,” 18k Gold, With Papers, Circa 1953  is accompanied by the original, numbered guarantee six page booklet, the numbered chronometer sheet and the Bureaux Officiels report. Rolex Ref. 6098, also known as the “big bubbleback” and “pre-explorer,” is prized by many vintage Rolex collectors for its size and appearance. Created in the 1950s, which was such an experimental time for Rolex, the reference offered an array of interesting of dial variations — none more exclusive and desirable than the honeycomb “Stelline” dial featured on this magnificent offering.  

A Patek Philippe, Superb 18k Rose Gold Ref. 5070R Circa 2000s  is one of  36 lots from the renowned watchmaker  in the auction. The highly collectible Ref. 5070 was introduced in 1998 and it takes inspiration from the historically significant Ref. 2512 from the 1950s. The reference 5070 was made in four different precious metals — Yellow, White, Rose and Platinum — each with its own separate dial color, and was offered between 2001-09. The production range of this particular rose gold example would have been manufactured from 2003-09, with only 1,000 examples ever produced. This model is highly collectible because it is the last of the Lemania-powered movements and also stamped with the coveted Geneva Seal. This offered example is consigned by the original owner.

Other top watchmakers featured in the auction include Audemars Piguet , Cartier, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin .