Justine LAMARRE
HOROLOGY, COLLECTIBLE WATCHES, THE COMEX ROLEX

The expert

Justine Lamarre is an expert in collectible watches, specializing in vintage pieces, jewelry watches, and “COMEX” Rolexes.

After studying art followed by an MBA in International Art Trade and Markets, she moved into the auction world and joined Artcurial, where she trained in appraisal, authentication, and provenance research. Within the Collectible Horology department, she helped organize numerous landmark sales in Paris and Monaco. Passionate about the history of objects, she notably worked on the dispersal of major collections and watches of historical interest.

Now based in the South of France, Justine Lamarre works in partnership with the Jacques Bianchi watchmaking workshop in Marseille, centered around a shared passion for Rolex watches delivered to COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d’Expertises). She also works with several auction houses across the Mediterranean arc, from Montpellier to Monaco.

Her expertise is also sought for auctions organized by the French State, notably for the DNID and AGRASC, for horological appraisal and authentication missions.

Drawing on a vast network of watchmakers in the South of France, Justine Lamarre assists individuals, collectors, and auctioneers with their needs regarding estimation, appraisal, authentication, and provenance research.

Her activity also covers insurance appraisals, replacement value evaluations, heritage inventories, as well as cases related to theft, the fight against counterfeiting, and the securing of collections. She regularly collaborates with insurance firms specializing in art and valuables to assist their policyholders in protecting and enhancing their horological heritage.

Justine Lamarre is also the creator of Madame Watches, a blog dedicated to news from the collectible watch market and auctions. There, she shares analysis, advice, and insights for collectors and enthusiasts wishing to buy, sell, or build a collection.

Since 2012, she has been active in the world of auctions, first at the Artcurial auction house, where she had the opportunity to train in horological appraisal, and then as an independent specialist since 2022.

Over the years, she has handled exceptional watches and has naturally met many experts and collectors in Paris.

It was from them that she learned to recognize a “fine watch,” to identify the small details that justify large price differences, and to train her eye to all the subtleties of appraisal. Based in Marseille, she now puts her experience at the service of professionals and individuals for consulting, estimation, and authentication missions.

Comex

Comex, the tool watch from Marseille

In the world of collectible watches, tool watches refer to professional watches, those working instruments designed to be used in extreme conditions.

Dedicated to divers, aviators, explorers, and the armed forces, they are now appreciated by certain enthusiasts who are passionate
about the world to which they are linked. Elite units, fighter aviation, or space conquest… Each tool watch tells of the close ties that watchmaking has maintained with other industries. These issued watches, which were subject to specifications as demanding as they were pragmatic, sometimes reappear at auction, sparking enthusiasm among collectors and enthusiasts depending on their condition and provenance.

Among these watches steeped in history are the “Comex” models, those divers delivered to the Compagnie Maritime d’Expertise, a pioneering company in underwater work founded by Henri Germain Delauze in 1962 in Marseille. From its beginnings, Comex held a leading position in the international offshore oil market and became the world’s leading company for underwater engineering, technology, and human or robotic interventions. The company operates across 5 continents and plays a major role in the development of deep-sea diving and pressurized life systems, serving the offshore, scientific, and medical industries.
To equip its elite divers, Comex needed robust, reliable watches capable of withstanding an extremely pressurized environment (10 bars and more) and significant pressure variations during ascent.

Alongside this industrial adventure, unprecedented scientific research
was deployed: understanding the reactions of the human body subjected to extreme pressure. In 1969, Comex inaugurated its hyperbaric test center and launched a research program that led to the development of new breathing mixtures, allowing its divers to reach previously inaccessible depths. The program intensified after the first oil shock of 1973, as the stakes became strategic: quickly discovering new deposits located outside the Middle East. However, to exploit these resources, sometimes located at depths of more than 100 meters, Comex had to push the limits of deep-sea diving.

It was in this context that the Marseille-based company specialized in saturation diving. Rather than having divers descend and ascend daily, following long decompression stops, Henri Germain Delauze developed a radically new approach aimed at increasing their productivity. The principle is simple: hyperbaric chambers are pressurized to the same pressure as the underwater worksite. Divers live there for several days, or even several weeks. Decompression only occurs once: at the end of the mission, upon returning to the surface.
For Henri Germain Delauze, equipping his divers with watches capable of withstanding great depths was an absolute necessity. At first, Comex equipped itself with models manufactured by Doxa, Zodiac, or Aquastar. But very quickly, these solutions showed their limits.
At the end of the 1960s, the Marseille company scaled up and approached the Swiss watch industry directly. Two names stood out: Omega and Rolex.
With these two historic houses, Comex no longer just adapted; it had them develop. For its divers, each brand designed specific models, intended to handle the extreme constraints of saturation diving. Tool watches, in the most radical sense of the term.
It is precisely this requirement, combined with limited production and a history deeply rooted in underwater exploration, that gives these pieces a status of their own today. On the collectible watch market, these tool watches regularly drive up auction prices!

Various auction catalogs