The Rolex "Paul Newman” Cosmograph Daytona is now the world’s most valuable collector’s watch, worth over USD $17 million. Here’s why it fetched the massive price.

The infamous Rolex Cosmograph Daytona was just sold at auction for USD $17.8 million, nearly doubling the previous record. The modest auctioneers had publicized that the watch would fetch something in “excess of USD $1 million”. It’s safe to say they were low-balling.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the figure. The previous auction record for any watch was USD $11 million for the Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 – a very special timepiece in its own right.

Now, you might say: “Another year, another auction, another record.” But this one is different.

In many ways, this watch represents the perfect alignment of the stars, the perfect storm - or any other metaphor you might come up with - all of which contributed to its massive price tag.

For one, take its provenance – a significant contributor to the value a vintage watch. This one in particular was owned by Paul Newman himself. An Oscar winning actor, director, and even a racecar driver (he finished second at the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans race!) the man was a legend.

Apparently it was his loving wife that bought the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona for him as a gift. Not only did she have good taste, but she also had it engraved on the back with "DRIVE CAREFULLY ME”, to remind her husband to take care while he was on the track.

For some time, it was thought that the watch was lost to history. But then it turned up in the hands of one James Cox, the former boyfriend of Newman’s daughter Nell. Apparently Newman very casually gave Cox the watch about 40 years ago, without giving it much thought.

After keeping it in excellent condition, Cox decided to finally part ways with the watch and put it up for auction with the help of Phillips and Bacs & Russo in New York. Part of the proceeds of the auction will reportedly support Nell’s foundation.

Then, consider what this watch means for collectors more broadly. This is the ‘Paul Newman’ Rolex Daytona, which basically started the huge movement towards collecting Rolex watches. No doubt the brand itself was happy to hear the news of the auction.

Being a reference 6239 with what was then referred to as a rare and ‘exotic dial’, this watch set the trend and the demand for future Rolex Daytonas. This was the first from a series that was produced from 1963 until 1970 and it was the brand’s first chronograph with a tachymeter scale engraved on the bezel.

Today, ‘Paul Newman’ Daytona is essentially a nickname for the most prestigious models of the series. Just within the last year, a 18 karat yellow gold Daytona "Paul Newman” reference 6263 sold for over USD $3 million, and a stainless steel “Oyster Sotto” reference 6263 sold for over USD $2 million.

So all of that combined has made this watch the world’s most collectible of all mechanical wristwatches. That makes me wonder what Paul Newman would have had to say about it. I would think perhaps a bit of bewilderment, since he (and his wife) unknowingly made a legend out of this timepiece.

If (and when) the watch goes up for auction again, expect another record to the broken.