Excellence and exclusivity are two words tightly associated with Rolex. As a result, it is obvious that the creations that have made the legend of the house are sold at gold prices at auctions. Like Hermès’ Kelly or Birkin, Rolex watches have an undeniable value.
Paul Newman’s Daytona
This is the watch that has held the absolute auction record since 2017. And we owe it to the meeting of two legends. On the one hand, a watchmaker. The Oyster Cosmograph Daytona, a watch cut by the house of Rolex to give drivers the essential element to their exploits.
On the other, an actor. One of the best known and most admired of his generation. Paul Newman. During the making of the film Winning, in 1969, he made the Rolex Daytona a watch as popular as it was luxurious. It is also in this film that he learns to race. Without expecting it, he developed a passion for driving.
That same year, his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, gave him a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. But still shocked by the motorcycle accident he had in 1969, she has an inscription engraved on the back of this Rolex: ‘Drive Carefully, Think About Me.’
In 2017, therefore, the watch will sell at an auction that lasted nearly 12 minutes. Buyers struggled over interposed telephones to reach $ 17.75 million, or 15.3 million euros. Never has a watch been exchanged at this price …
The Rolex Antimagnetique Reference 4113
May 2016, the Rolex Reference 4113 Split Seconds from 1942 takes off for the sum of $ 2,453,100. We are in Geneva, and at the auction organized by the Philipps house, one of the rarest Rolexes on the market has just been auctioned.
It is certainly vintage, but the value of this 1942 Rolex Antimagnetique Reference 4113 Split Seconds lies above all in its rarity … Produced in 12 copies, only 8 have reappeared on the market.
This Rolex-signed marvel is a concentrate of Rolex codes… An imposing 44mm case, exceptional finishing work, a watch cut in steel, a key material of the house… With, not to spoil anything, a major event for collectors: a button on the crown, and the largest dial of a Rolex. This Rolex Reference 4113 exudes an allure that is eternally fascinating.
The Rolex Caravelle And The Rolex Oyster Perpetual 6284, References Of Craftsmanship
These two Rolexes are as beautiful as they are disturbing. We know very little about the house’s appeal for the art of enamelling. And yet, twice the famous Marguerite Koch, a genius enameller, has produced masterpieces of watchmaking for the house.
In the 1950s it produced the Rolex Ref 6120, also called La Caravelle. And the Oyster Perpetual Reference 6284 watch. Another two extremely rare watches.
The first, therefore, La Caravelle is a yellow gold model 32 mm in diameter – traded in November 2015 still at Phillips, for $ 1,235,000. Looking at the play, we understand the enthusiasm.
The second, also cut in yellow gold, presents the two Americas. Breathtaking beauty and an art that upholds the values of watchmaking … It is easy to understand why these two timepieces are among the most successful and prestigious in the Rolex catalog. A genius of craftsmanship thus partitioned, reappeared for the last time in 2017.