Entrepreneur Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona Sold for $17.8 Million. The Record-Breaking Price Wasn’t Its Biggest Legacy
Nine years after a record-setting 12-minute auction, the founder’s piece still shapes how collectors value evidence, celebrity, and cultural significance.
Paul Newman. Illustration: Inc.; Photos:
Nearly two decades after his death, American entrepreneur Paul Newman continues to influence culture with his famed Rolex Daytona.
In 2017, Newman’s ‘Paul Newman’ Rolex Daytona sold for $17.8 million at Phillips. At the time, it broke records for wristwatch sales.
The watch itself sold for $15.5 million. However, when including the buyer’s premium of 12.5 percent, the final price came to $17,752,500. The watch was only up for bidding for twelve minutes.
“It wasn’t just any celebrity-owned watch; it was a watch that helped shape and define what modern wristwatch collecting is today,” Paul Boutros, deputy chairman and head of watches, Americas at Phillips, told Inc. “When the name Paul Newman was attached to the Rolex Daytona in the 1980s, it turned a very undesirable watch into the world’s most desirable.”
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Paul Newman’s ‘Paul Newman’ Rolex Daytona
The American actor and movie star was first spotted with the wristwatch in 1969 during the publicity tour for the movie Winning. Newman’s wife and co-star, Joanne Woodward, chose the Daytona during production to be fitted with an “exotic” dial, which would later be nicknamed the “Paul Newman” dial.
According to Phillips, once Newman’s name was attached to the Daytona, it skyrocketed the demand for all other Daytona models.
It was last seen on his wrist in 1984 and was presumed to be missing since. That was, until the Phillips auction.
Source: www.inc.com
