Brandon's Pick

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Christie’s is proud to offer the lifelong collection of wristwatches from Charles D. Friedlander, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, United States Army veteran, and a retiree from NASA after a distinguished career. Chuck graduated from West Point in 1950, then served as an Officer in the Korean War where he fought in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. During his time in Korea, one of Chuck’s main duties was to provide the daily briefings on the war to the commanding officers. This would foreshadow Chuck’s important involvement with NASA and the space program in years to come.

In 1963, Chuck joined NASA at Cape Canaveral. His first role was as a Briefing Officer. He would go on to become the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director of the Kennedy Space Center and later as NASA’s Chief Briefing Officer in Washington, DC. Chuck returned to Cape Kennedy (formerly Cape Canaveral) as Chief of the Astronaut Support Office. In 1969, Chuck joined Bill Anders (Apollo 8) after Bill accepted Richard Nixon’s invitation to become the Executive Secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council in the White House. Chuck served as Bill’s Executive Assistant until retiring from the White House in 1972, having been present during some of the most exciting and historic times in the program’s history.

Following his NASA career, Chuck was asked by Walter Cronkite to become his main briefer on all NASA activities. Chuck excelled in the role, again making use of his skills from the Army. He would remain close to NASA for the rest of his career and still does to this day.

During Chuck’s career, he briefed hundreds of VIPs at space launches and was directly involved with the space program including projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Chuck worked closely with many astronauts and developed lifelong friendships with them as well. His love for watches grew after he got his Rolex GMT-Master in the 1960s and from then on he became infatuated with stainless steel and titanium timepieces.

The present lot being offered is Chuck's Rolex GMT-Master reference 1675.

Rolex launched the GMT-Master in 1954 in order to provide pilots a watch that could read 24 hour time for a selected time zone. Following the success of this model, in 1959 Rolex introduced its successor, the reference 1675, which Rolex produced until 1980. The present example features a beautiful black glossy gilt dial and faded “Pepsi” bezel. This watch also comes with its original stamped Rolex guarantee and chronometer papers. The inside of the case back is stamped IV 65 indicating it is from the fourth quarter of 1965. Vintage Rolex sports watches with original papers are highly-desirable and this watch would be a great addition to a collection.