Rolex is a great name. A huge number of watch collectors specialise in the brand alone. And of the Rolexes, the Daytona is perhaps the most celebrated.
But surely those are old classics?
The dials on this watch are set up to capture the data for the fastest cars in the world. Image courtesy Christie's.
Not in this case.
This Rolex Daytona is so rare and exclusive that it’s auctioning for £200,000 around a year after it was made.
The watch will be sold at Christie’s Rare Watches, Featuring Stories in Time: A Collection of Exceptional Watches sale on May 12 in Geneva.
The story that makes this watch so special is its rarity and who it was offered to.
The Le Mans models were a special edition to celebrate the centenary of the world's greatest endurance motor race.
But this one is even more special.
Christie’s say: “To own a Rolex Daytona ‘Le Mans’ in yellow gold is to possess one of the most exclusive and sought-after contemporary timepieces. On the wrist, it confers a prestige that is beyond price. Completely ‘off-catalogue,’ the yellow gold ‘Le Mans’ Daytona is a VIP-exclusive, invitation-only model, with each owner hand-picked by Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour.”
Daytonas of all sorts are rare and in demand. But the wider world didn’t even know that this type was available in anything other than white gold until Roger Federer was filmed wearing a yellow-gold example at the 2024 US Open.
A Paul Newman-owned Daytona, showing that it was a much-used watch on its way to a record-breaking sale.
This example is “stickered” and was made in 2024. It could have come straight from the Rolex workshop.
The Daytona is by some distance the best-known racing driver’s watch, named after the NASCAR circuit at Daytona Beach, Florida.
The creme-de-la-creme for this reference are the watches owned by Paul Newman, Hollywood actor and part-time racing driver.
A style of dial set-up is named for him, and a Newman-owned Daytona realised $17.8 million in 2017. The most valuable wristwatch ever sold at auction.
The Richard Mille Ferrari special edition is as elegant as anything the marque has ever made.
While this example won’t match that amount, it may well exceed its estimate of CHF150,000 to CHF250,000 (around £136,000 to £227,000). With the sale of a white gold example for nearly $230,000 in New York in December last year as a comparison, this sale will be an interesting gauge of the market.
In the same sale, three watches are expected to make around £1 million or above.
A Ferrari special edition from Richard Mille has a £1.4 million top estimate. Another Mille watch, a Rafael Nadal special edition, arrives with an estimate of around £1.8 million. And an 18k pink gold Patek Philippe reference 2497 perpetual calendar has another £1.8 million top predicted price.
