Record for unique Daytona

Jul 13, 2020,01:11 AM
 

Attended Sotheby's Watch auction in Hong Kong last Saturday to witness the most expensive Rolex Daytona to be sold, a record for sure, hammer price at 21 million HKD and after commission, 25 million HK dollars. Extracts from Sotheby's auction app... For other "Paul Newman" Daytona, overall prices have dropped...










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insane !!!!!!!!!

 
 By: Bruno.M1 : July 13th, 2020-03:44
if this isn't money laundry I don't get it anymore Its a 50K watch and a 5 K dial ... Give it some credit cause it's probably unique But nobody with some brains wants to pay 3.3 million USD for something that costed probably 30K when it was made 20-30 yea... 

1 [nt]

 
 By: CGJ0 : July 13th, 2020-06:17

Not sure about the retail prices you mentioned...

 
 By: mywrongwrist : July 13th, 2020-10:16
... to be honest the price is insane, but in my understanding a limited batch of Zenith Daytona was made in platinum all the others in steel, yellow gold, rose gold and steel/gold Maybe only 3 pieces in platinum... but after this auction, I’m pretty confi... 

;-)) [nt]

 
 By: FabR : July 13th, 2020-07:44

You mean money laundering? All is always possible, but I refuse to assume that anytime an auction result is unexpectedly high, there's automatically something illegal behind it (if this was your thought).

 
 By: FabR : July 13th, 2020-12:53
I wouldn't spend $3M on a Daytona, and it's obviously a big amount of money for it. But for as long as no illegal activity is proven, frankly I'm quite happy for that seller! ;-)

Well you have to luk at the complete pic- The whole politics of it. It's not just this piece.

 
 By: redcorals : July 13th, 2020-13:14
Then there is another perspective I always visit. The buyer or seller are never disclosed. The bids are all blackboxed. Like any other estate transfer these transactions shud be required to be registered - The deal is documented, there is record of owners... 

I completely agree these things do *sometimes* happen, no doubt about that.

 
 By: FabR : July 13th, 2020-13:57
I just don't like to scream fraud in specific cases without proof, otherwise soon we'll end up pointing at every single auction result by default, and the whole thing becomes unsustainable. But unfortunately, markets *are* often manipulated and we need to... 

I took my Submariner and a Sharpie...

 
 By: mdg : July 13th, 2020-09:39
...and blacked-out all of the odd numbers on the bezel. Give me $5 million : )

I think it's all about chronology... If your Sub gets the odd numbers blacked out *before* exiting the manufacture, then it's a unique piece and (perhaps) someone will give you the $5M...

 
 By: FabR : July 13th, 2020-12:10
If the same terrible thing happens *after* it left the manufacture, then you've just destroyed a Rolex and lost $10k.. ;-))

You are correct. Just think about it though...

 
 By: mdg : July 13th, 2020-13:12
...if you're a big shot at Rolex...some VP or another...why not just order a few one-offs. Put them in a bank vault, wait a few years, retire, and cash in? Yes, those kind of people aren't poor to begin with, but nobody says 'no' to a few million in walki... 

Sure, hard to disagree this is a very possible scenario (and one that's actually easy to implement! :-), especially since the origin of a watch is often unknown.

 
 By: FabR : July 13th, 2020-13:50
On the other hand, if a buyer likes that one-off, then who gets his money may not even be so relevant to him, and it becomes a win-win... Alas, I'm pretty sure these things *do* occur in reality, and watches are not even the most lucrative option here -- ... 

The art world is all about money parking/laundering imho...

 
 By: mdg : July 13th, 2020-15:44
...and provenance means everything. If you're the VP of Rolex, provenance is iron-clad.