$2 million Yacht-Master owned by the architect of modern-day Rolex up for sale

Patrick Heiniger stood down as Rolex CEO for “personal reasons” in December 2008 after 12 years at the helm.

No more details on his quick departure were ever revealed by Wilsdorf HQ but, by the time of Patrick’s resignation, the Heiniger name had been connected to Rolex for almost half a century.

Patrick had taken over as CEO from his father, André – the man credited with turning Rolex from a watchmaker into a luxury brand and making it the ultimate symbol of wealth.

Joining Rolex in 1948, André Heiniger became the second chairman in the company’s history in 1962 and ran Rolex until his retirement in 1997 when he passed the baton on to his son.

Patrick’s resignation came just as the 2008 recession was set to bite at its hardest. Swiss watch exports plummeted during the global recession with Rolex’s territory of the mid- to upper-price range, hit particularly hard. This resulted in reported falls in sales of up to 40% and, almost unthinkably by today’s standards, there was a huge amount of overstock.

In what could have proved disastrous for the brand, Rolex had just completed an investment programme that saw the brand rationalising its supplier network, becoming vertically integrated by bringing production in-house.

In the end, however, it is this brave and game-changing move that will be Patrick Heiniger’s legacy. As Jake Ehrlich writes on rolexmagazine.com:

“Rolex only developed one new model under his tenure, which was the Yacht-Master. However, during his 16 years tenure from 1992 to 2008, as CEO, he consolidated Rolex’s entire business into four super-state-of-the-art facilities, all located in Switzerland, which resulted in superb economies-of-scale and significantly contributed to improving the quality of modern Rolex watches.”During his time at Rolex, Patrick chose to wear a Day-Date in his favourite metal: platinum, and, as already mentioned, he introduced the Yacht-Master as we know it to the Rolex line-up. It is therefore fitting that, when celebrating the ten-millionth chronometer movement in the 1990s, Patrick chose to case it in a platinum Yacht-Master.

The watch has remained in the Heiniger family since its first tick, but this coming weekend it will go under the hammer with Monaco Legend Group at its Exclusive Timepieces sale on April 22 and 23 at Le Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel in Monte Carlo. Previews will take place between Thursday 20 and Saturday 22 April.

With an estimate between €1m and 2m (and industry expectations for it to go even higher), the watch is a platinum prototype commissioned by the Heiniger family. A true one-of-a-kind it dates back to the early 1990s and celebrates the ten-millionth Rolex watch featuring the Chronometer Certificate. The watch is equipped with a platinum Oyster bracelet and features diamond hour markers with baguette-shaped sapphires at 6 and 9 o’clock and a triangular-shaped sapphire at 12. Its unique, platinum-coloured dial bears the legend “DIX MILLIONIEME CHRONOMETER”.

The movement rotor is engraved with “10,000,000 ème CHRONOMETRE”, something that was done when the ten-millionth calibre rolled out of production. This movement was then placed inside the Heiniger’s platinum Yacht-Master where it has remained ever since.

Monaco Legend Group co-chairman, Davide Parmegiani, says of the piece. “Rolex spent the last 80 years marketing the importance of their movements and the fact that they are officially chronometer certified… So, we can truly understand how important it is that we have the 10 millionth officially-certified chronometer in a prototype watch.

“Moreover, the watch is made of the rarest of metals with an incredible unique dial and it comes with outstanding provenance directly from the family that marked the history of the Rolex company… This is a Rolex made by the chairmen of the company for their family and a unique piece that was never offered for sale. For me this is something really incredible!”