World Record Prices Paid For Rare Rolexes

Red-hot bidding for two rare Rolex prototype Daytona wristwatches produced record-setting prices at Antiquorum’s June “Important Watches, Collector’s Wristwatches, & Clocks” sale in Geneva, Switzerland.

The extremely rare Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona gentleman’s wristwatches—also known to collectors as “Paul Newman” Rolexes—sold for $317,283 and $338,258. Both were produced in 1979 and had never before been put up for auction.

Two other watches also garnered record prices. A rare, self-winding, yellow 18k Patek Philippe gentleman’s watch with perpetual calendar sold for $304,699, and a “Montre Geographique by Callier, Horologer de l’Observatoire, Fournisseur de la Marine de l’Etat, Paris,” dated 1887, sold for $32,033. The latter is a rare 18k, keyless, double-face 24-hour world-time watch.

Other sale stars included “The Sacred Mountain,” an extremely complicated musical and automaton clock made by prestigious London watchmaker James Cox in 1780. It was sold for $1,093,330 to the Musée de l’Horologie de Genève, which already had its matching half.

The total sale value for all lots was $8,262,608.

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