When considering which Rolex models have hammered for the greatest amounts of money in recent years, one bumps up against an irony of the modern horological climate that simply can’t be ignored: half of these timepieces are steel sports models, that upon their debut were “affordable,” in the literal sense (though not inexpensive), to the average buyer. At least two are highly complicated watches in precious metals, the Bao Dai and the Ref. 4113 Split-Seconds—the type of timepiece Rolex no longer really produces, with the exception of the Sky-Dweller. But many are less complex models, such as a time-only DateJust or the Daytona, whose basic language remains the same well into 2020. In examining why this is the case, some historical context is necessary:
Despite its modern status as a global luxury juggernaut whose wares can easily double as cold, hard currency, when it was founded by Hans Wilsdorf in the early 20th century, Rolex didn’t produce what was considered a luxury product. Rather, it manufactured timepieces that were meant to be used, as tools—worn while climbing mountains, diving deep into the ocean’s depths and soldiering into combat the world over.
It wasn’t until roughly the 1970s that Rolex began taking on the aspect of a luxury brand in the modern sense, one whose wares were no longer strictly utilitarian. (Solid gold dual-time watch, anyone?) In more recent years, an artificial supply restriction of steel Rolex sports models—Submariners, GMT-Masters, and Daytonas—has injected a wild twist into the story of Rolex in the 21st century that would have seemed unthinkable to someone looking for a well-built (relatively affordable) wristwatch in the 1960s. The most utilitarian of Rolexes are so in-demand, so expensive and so unavailable that in order to buy one, a customer has to either purchase one on the secondary market, often for an incredible markup, or have developed a long history of prior purchases with an authorized dealer in order to secure a spot on a likely years-long waiting list. All this to be given the opportunity to buy a new steel watch at retail.
Perhaps it’s a modern longing for those 20th-century days of adventure—days when maps had vast, blank spaces and a sense of wonder at the world’s mysteries still remained—that has driven interest in early, steel tool watches to such dizzying heights, and especially those from Rolex. Who doesn’t want to look down at his wrist and be reminded of the feats of great men and women who wore them? Of course, there are other factors at play, such as provenance. A watch owned by someone as widely admired as Paul Newman is going to be valuable no matter what brand name is on the dial.
Then there’s the growth of social media, dedicated online watch publications and horological communities such as Red Bar, and hype from the auction houses themselves. The fervor for these watches grows organically as more and more people are easily brought into the fold, digitally. On top of this ever-expanding knowledge base, folks with the means to invest in a growing marketplace will do so in betting on the same sort of returns they chase in the art market, or the stock market. And Rolex is widely perceived to constitute the most liquid of watch “investments”—a term that admittedly rankles certain horological purists. Buy a new Rolex watch today—especially a steel sports watch, if you can get your hands on it—and there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to sell it tomorrow for what you paid for it, and then some.
But even a cash-flush customer unversed in Rolex’s early history as a manufacturer of tool watches, one hopes, can recognize the importance of these objects. It’s not always expensive precious metals or sparkling diamonds that capture the mind of the watch aficionado. Sometimes it’s purely about the stories of those who owned them or the hunt for a timepiece that symbolized a unique moment in the history of this pioneering company whose early models have withstood the test of time.
(And, of course, that it’s a Rolex.)
Oyster Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6239 “Paul Newman”
Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona Justin Mastine-Frost
Technically, any Daytona with an “exotic” dial—recognizable for its contrasting outer seconds track, funky modern typeface used in the sub-dials combined with block indices, and squarish 1-12 indices—is now known as a “Paul Newman” variant. But when the venerated actor and racer’s own reference 6239, gifted to him by his wife, came up for auction in 2017, the watch world collectively went berserk. The watch hammered for $17.75 million, including buyer’s premium—not bad for a Daytona variant that languished on dealer shelves, when it debuted in the 1960s, for lack of interest.
Price: $17.75 million at Phillips in October 2017
Diameter: 36.5 mm
Movement: Valjoux cal. 72B handwound
Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6265 “Unicorn” (IMAGES)
Rolex Daytona “The Unicorn” in 18 karat white gold Photo: Courtesy Phillips
While a typical stainless steel, Oyster-cased ref. 6265 might run you a cool $70,000 or so, they’re comparatively commonplace. This unique 18-karat white gold version, however, is rarer than, well, a unicorn, which is reflected in its final hammer price. The watch’s seller was none other than famed collector John Goldberger, who donated it to Phillips auction house (the proceeds from the sale were gifted to Children Action, a charity). As of 2020, this is the second-most expensive Rolex ever sold at auction after Paul Newman’s Daytona.
Price: ~$6.5 million at Phillips in May 2018
Diameter: 37 mm
Movement: Valjoux cal. 727 handwound
Ref. 6062 “Bao Dai”
Rolex Ref. 6062 “Bao Dai” Courtesy of Phillips
In 1954, while in Geneva attending a convention that would split Vietnam into two distinct states, Bao Dai—the final emperor of Vietnam and then-head of state—walked into a Rolex boutique and requested, essentially, “the rarest and most precious Rolex ever made.” The ref. 6062 presented to him is a triple-calendar moon phase in yellow gold with a black dial and diamond indices. Though two other diamond-dial 6062s are known to collectors, the Bao Dai features a unique layout with five diamonds, further increasing its rarity.
Price: $5.06 million at Phillips in May 2017
Diameter: 36 mm
Movement: Rolex cal. 655 automatic
Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6263 “The Legend”
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6263 “The Legend” Courtesy of Phillips
Another absurdly rare Daytona configuration, this ref. 6263 is one of only three known “Paul Newman” variants executed in a yellow gold Oyster (water-resistant) case. Its “lemon grené” dial features black contrasting subdials, a black outer seconds track and a black bezel, making for a look that grabs your eye from across the room. After a heated bidding war, it hammered for over $3.7 million, making it the second-most expensive Rolex ever sold at the time (May 2017) after the Bao Dai.
Price: $3.7 million at Phillips in May 2017
Diameter: 37.5 mm
Movement: Valjoux cal. 727 handwound
Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6240 “The Neanderthal”
Rolex Daytona “The Neanderthal” Photo: Courtesy Phillips
You may recognize some of the hallmarks of this ref. 6240’s dial—it’s got the exotic font and indices of a “Paul Newman,” but it’s not quite a Paul Newman: dating from 1966, this possibly unique Daytona is a sort of “pre-PN.” Its oversized subdials have the exotic-dial look, but the watch’s face is otherwise adorned with only the Rolex coronet and Rolex wordmark. The 6240 was also the first Cosmograph Daytona model to be equipped with the water-resistant Oyster case, making this a compelling, important timepiece in the Daytona continuum.
Price: $3.01 million at Phillips in May 2018
Diameter: 37.5 mm
Movement: Valjoux cal. 72B handwound
Ref. 4113 Split-Seconds
Rolex Ref. 4113 Split-Seconds Courtesy of Rolex
Another complicated watch rendered in steel, the ref. 4113 features an oversized 44 mm case—the largest case size of any Rolex model ever produced—and the caliber 55 VBR chronograph movement equipped with a split-seconds complication. Only 12 of these watches are thought to have been produced during the early 1940s, and they were never offered for sale commercially. Rather, it’s thought they were gifted exclusively to members of certain racing teams, making them some of the rarest Rolex watches in existence.
Price: ~$2.6 million at Phillips in November 2019
Diameter: 44 mm
Movement: Valjoux Cal. 55 VBR handwound
GMT Master ref. 1675 “Apocalypse Now”
Marlon Brandon on the set of Apocalypse Now wearing his Rolex GMT-Master, ref. 1675 Mary Ellen Mark/Phillips
Marlon Brando wore this 1972 GMT Master as the renegade Col. Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola’s award-winning Vietnam war classic, “Apocalypse Now.” Either Brando or Coppola decided to remove the bezel from the watch, giving it a worn, somewhat crazed look—much like Brando’s character. An otherwise standard ref. 1675 with a well-preserved matte dial, Brand’s watch—into which he hand-carved his name and which he wore on a black leather strap—hammered for an incredible $1.95 million at the Phillips Game Changers auction in 2019.
Price: $1.95 million at Phillips in December 2019
Diameter: 39 mm
Movement: Rolex cal. 1570 automatic
Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6264 “John Player Special”
Sotheby’s Rolex Daytona “John Player Special” Ref. 6264 Courtesy of Sotheby's
Now here’s a watch that broke several records at once: the most expensive watch ever sold at an online auction ($1.54 million); the record price for a “John Player Special” Daytona (so called for its black and gold livery); and the record price for a watch sold in the UK. Auctioned online in July 2020 during the spread of COVID-19, this “JPS” is one of only ten ref. 6264 Daytonas known to exist in 18k gold, and of these, only a small handful were outfitted with exotic Paul Newman dials in black.
Price: $1.54 million in July 2020 at Sotheby’s
Diameter: 37 mm
Movement: Valjoux cal. 727 handwound
Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6263 “Albino”
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6263 “Albino” Courtesy of Phillips
Purchased by none other than Eric Clapton in the late 1990s, this 6263 is unique for featuring an all-white dial (Daytona subdials are typically rendered in contrasting colors to the main dial). Only four examples of this particular configuration are known to exist, and Slowhand’s actually sold twice: once in 2003 for $505,000, and finally in 2015, for $1.4 million. A similar reference 6263 in an Oyster case with a standard dial might run you somewhere in the $80,000 range, but add in Claptonian provenance and a rare factory dial, and you’ve got a recipe for greatness.
Price: $1.4 million at Phillips in May 2015
Diameter: 37.5 mm
Movement: Valjoux cal. 727 handwound
Day-Date Ref. 1803 “Jack Nicklaus”
Jack Nicklaus’ Yellow-Gold Day-Date Ref. 1803 Courtesy of Phillips
The story of this gold 1803 is special in part because it was Rolex itself that gifted the watch to golfer Jack Nicklaus back in 1967. As the Golden Bear himself said: “It has accompanied me at U.S. Opens, Masters Tournaments, PGA Championships, Open Championships and countless other events for over five decades, and has served me well at every step along the way.” Phillips auctioned off this otherwise fairly common Day-Date in December, 2019, which realized a final price of $1.22 million. Fittingly, all of the watch’s proceeds went to Nicklaus’s own Children’s Health Care Foundation.
Price: $1.22 million at Phillips in December 2019
Diameter: 36 mm
Movement: Rolex cal. 1556 automatic
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The 10 Most Expensive Rolex Watches Ever Sold at Auction, From the Paul Newman to the Unicorn - Robb Report
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