Auction house Watches of Knightsbridge achieved a house record when it sold a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Paul Newman for £76,600 last month.
The watch, ref. 6262, was consigned by its original owner and had been presented as a wedding gift from his wife’s family in 1975.
The original receipt from Watches of Switzerland Southampton was included, showing a purchase price of £134. Adjusted for inflation from 1976 prices, the historic retail price would still be less than £1,000 today.
The couple recently sent the watch back to Rolex for a service and the local retailer informed them of the model’s current popularity among collectors.
Watches of Knightsbridge valued the watch at between £30,000-£40,000 but interest at the September 20th auction was considerable, both in-room and online, resulting in a final price of £76,600 (including 21.6% buyer’s premium).
The Paul Newman Daytonas differ from standard Rolex Cosmograph Daytonas only in the dial. Small numbers of ‘exotic’ Daytona dials were produced over a number of years for Rolex by Singer. The chronograph register numerals are represented with an Art Deco font instead of the standard sans serif font.