WATCHES figured large in Rene Rivkin’s life as displays of wealth and as gifts for his many acquaintances. The watches represent thelast of the tangible assets of Rivkin’s estate and his notoriously ostentatious lifestyle.

“There is some real money involved,” said Steven Kugel, a partner at Trustee CRS Warner Kugel, which is handling Rivkin’s estate. “We are hoping that bids come from everywhere; people who admired Rivkin, business people, the general public. There is something about Rene Rivkin’s name that interests people.”

WATCHES figured large in Rene Rivkin’s life as displays of wealth and as gifts for his many acquaintances. The watches represent thelast of the tangible assets of Rivkin’s estate and his notoriously ostentatious lifestyle.

His antique cars have been sold, his massive furniture collection auctioned, and now it’s the turn of the watches. At midnight last night, his trustee activated a website featuring 37 of the bejewelled timepieces.

Tenders can only be made online and the proceeds will go to pay off his creditors, mainly the tax office.

If only the watches could talk. Many of the young men who frequented the notorious Joe’s Cafe in Kings Cross, where Rivkin was a regular, were said to be recipients of not just cars and motor bikes but gold Rolexes.

While there are no Rolexes for sale in the collection, many of the watches, from some of the world’s best-known makers, are as difficult to ignore as the owner himself. Manufacturers include Harry Winston, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Audemars Piguet and Corum.

The only watch that isn’t working is the Hewlett Packard calculator watch, used by Rivkin in the 1970s on the trading floor of theSydney Stock Exchange. Rivkin was the envy of many of his colleagues, who had to ring their offices in order to arrive at complex calculations.

“There is some real money involved,” said Steven Kugel, a partner at Trustee CRS Warner Kugel, which is handling Rivkin’s estate. “We are hoping that bids come from everywhere; people who admired Rivkin, business people, the general public. There is something about Rene Rivkin’s name that interests people.”

Former editor of the watch magazine Lux, Bani McSpedden, said Rivkin was an impulsive collector and the pieces were likely to vary in price from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

www.rivkinwatches.com.au