Auctions Now's Your Chance To Own The Pope's Swatch

For those more ingrained in the watch world, there are also a number of picks from other watcherati (hat tip to a commenter for using this hilarious term on an article the other day) and folks that might be famous in their own right, but are more famous in this particular circle for being watch collectors (and even stars of Talking Watches episodes): Aly & AJ, Ronny Chieng, and Randall Park, among others.

Brian LaViolette, the charity's namesake, was a young kid growing up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who started wearing his first watch at just four years old. By the time he was 15, he already had a collection of seven watches. Tragically, Brian died in a swimming accident in 1992. His family, led by Kim and Doug LaViolette, vowed to make the most of a terrible tragedy, eventually starting the Brian LaViolette Scholarship Foundation to award college scholarships to kids from across the world, from Wisconsin to South Africa. In 2022, the foundation gave out 55 scholarships; since its beginning, it has awarded a total of more than 1,000 scholarships. All proceeds from The Watch Project will support the Scholarship Foundation's efforts.

The auction actually came about via another watch-loving Wisconsinite, gentleman dealer Eric Wind. Doug, Brian's dad, reached out to Wind more than a year ago with the idea of an auction building on Brian's early interest in watches. Charity watch auctions are nothing new, but this one is exciting because it sources many of its donations from collectors. There are a handful of donations from brands, too – we'll highlight some, below – but it's cool to see collectors come together to support a charitable cause like this.

"What they've done is take a tragic circumstance and make good out of it in honor of Brian's memory," Wind says. Let's take a look at Pope Francis' Swatch, along with some of the other watches being auctioned for charity.

One of Brian's childhood friends grew up to become a priest and was able to connect the LaViolette Foundation to Pope Francis, approaching the Pope's team with the idea of donating a watch to support the organization. It took about six months, but Pope Francis eventually agreed to donate his personal Swatch, which he can be seen wearing in a number of photos since he became Pope in 2013.

The Swatch comes with a letter of authenticity signed by the Personal Secretary of Pope Francis, Fr. Fabio Salerno, addressed to the LaViolette family and the foundation. The watch itself is a simple, modern Swatch with a white dial and plastic, black case and band. It's the quintessential Swatch.

Perhaps owing to the fact that we rarely see a watch with this type of backstory, Wright has a broad estimate of $10,000 to $100,000. See it here.

While the auction is already open for online bidding, Wright Auction is based in Chicago and the sale will culminate in a live auction in Chicago on November 30. With that, local brand Oak & Oscar has stepped in to support the LaViolette Foundation, creating a unique Humboldt for the auction. The one-of-kind prototype is based on the brand's retired Humboldt, but instead of a 12-hour bezel, it features a fixed, stainless steel bezel that was hand-machined in Chicago by Oak & Oscar's watchmaker, Nathan Bobinchak.

Oak & Oscar added one more unique touch, also including a green and gold canvas strap with the watch, inspired by Brian's favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers (Brian's first watch prominently featured the Packers, too). It's another generous, charitable gesture from Oak & Oscar – earlier this year, the brand created a unique watch that raised $12,500 to support humanitarian efforts resulting from the war in Ukraine. The Humboldt "LaViolette Edition" has an estimate of $1,500 to $2,000.

Earlier this year, Aly & AJ showed their watch collection to us in an episode of Talking Watches, and now they've both donated a watch for this auction – one of which we even saw on that episode.

First up, AJ Michalka is donating her Seiko x Rowing Blazers dive watch, a collab we called "an insouciant preppy remix" when it was released (and quickly sold out) last year. The collab is defined by its colorful bezel that looks like a "Simon Says" gameboard.

Meanwhile, sister Aly Michalka is donating her Autodromo Intereuropa, which she showed us in that episode of Talking Watches. Like all of Autodromo's releases, it takes inspiration from classic cars, in this case, 1950s race car gauges. Of course, the bright blue dial is defining design element of this Autodromo Intereuropa.

Like the next few watches we'll highlight, both of these watches are opportunities to own reasonably priced watches that come from passionate collectors.

Earlier this year, we also featured a portion of actor/comedian Randall Park's watch collection. He showed us a Heuer, but not this one (then, it was a Silverstone). This is an equally beautiful vintage Heuer, a reference 404 "Pre-Carrera" chronograph dating to the early 1960s. The case and silver dial are in beautiful condition, with the lume on the dial and hands aged to a warm, even, and creamy tone. Even better are the original baby chronograph pushers (look at those little guys!). Altogether, this Heuer chronograph is an excellent gateway into vintage Heuer, a brand that still offers a ton of value as far as vintage watches go.

When I pressed Eric Wind to choose his favorite watch of the auction, he said this was it, calling it a "really stunning piece." Head to Wright for more on this vintage Heuer chronograph, which has an estimate of $1,500 to $3,000.

While most of the auction is dedicated to the LaViolette Foundation, there's also a small collection of items that come from the estate of the former technical director of Rolex USA – odd items like wax cuff links, the collector-favorite King Midas box, and a few watches. It's worth looking at as a curiosity, if nothing else.

If these celebrity watches aren't enough, Wind has also donated a beautiful vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual with a blue mosaic "Shantung" dial. In addition to the Seiko x Rowing Blazers watch from AJ Michalka's collection, Rowing Blazers founder Jack Carlson donated a green example of his brand's more recent Seiko collab, and the non-charity portion of Wright's auction is offering a black example (the fastest colorway to sell out).

Oh, and if these aren't enough, a certain Hodinkee editor donated an original Swatch Jellyfish from 1985. The Jellyfish is one of my favorite watches of all time, so I was excited to be able to donate one for this auction – the clear case and strap are still in great condition. The Jellyfish was also one of Brian LaViolette's favorite watches: the last watch he was able to buy was a version of the Swatch Jellyfish, a watch his father Doug still wears today. When I briefly met Doug earlier this year and learned about this connection (of course, he was wearing Brian's Jellyfish), I knew I had to donate one of my favorite watches. Here's the Jellyfish.

Hero image: Courtesy of Ty Alexander and Wright Auction