Newman’s Rolex Daytona Breaks World Record - Sells for $17.7 Million

A Rolex Daytona watch which used to belong to the late Mr Paul Newman has become the most expensive to ever be sold at auction, when it was snooped up for $17,752,500 at Phillips in New York City.

Though it was expected that the watch would break records for price of a Daytona, or even the most expensive Rolex ever for that matter, it is still quite astounding that the iconic timepiece sets a new record for most expensive wristwatch ever as a whole.

Of course there were other highly coveted TAG Heuer, Audemars Piguet, Zenith and Cartier watches on the "Winning Icons" block of this Philips auction, the fact that the watch that was given to ‘Cool Hand Luke’ Paul Newman by his wife Joanne Woodward back in 1968 was available, made it the most endearing object for collectors.

The back of the timepiece carries an engraving which states: “Drive Carefully Me.”

It was a lovely note from Ms Woodward to her husband, who wore the watch (purchased at the time for some $300) faithfully for 15 years in all.

When he learned later on that James Cox, the boyfriend of his daughter Nell in 1984, did not own a watch, he gave it to him as a present.

<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">VIDEO – Aurel Bacs Talks Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona &amp; Highlights From <a href="https://twitter.com/phillipswatches?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@phillipswatches</a> New York Auction - <a href="https://t.co/yRXytHa9Ak">https://t.co/yRXytHa9Ak</a> <a href="https://t.co/A9EjCyCkaq">pic.twitter.com/A9EjCyCkaq</a></p>&mdash; Monochrome Watches (@MonochromeWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/MonochromeWatch/status/920669578837004288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2017</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Until a day ago, the most expensive watch record belonged to a Patek Philippe 1518 in stainless steel, the very first serially-produced perpetual calendar chronograph ever made.

Of that particular model, just four were made in a stainless steel version and so it was not surprising to see it reach eight-figure heights. Just as the Rolex Daytona, that 1518 was also sold by Phillips (in Geneva, Switzerland however), over a year ago in November 2016.

Source:

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/paul-newman-worlds-most-expensive-wristwatch