In the world of luxury watches, Rolex isn’t exactly rare. Compared to houses like Patek Philippe or Richard Mille, which produce thousands of new pieces each year, Rolex reportedly manufactures more than one million. Recognisable and ruthlessly consistent, you are likely to spot one on the wrist of a young banker, an influencer, or perhaps your neighbour in business class. While Rolex is luxury, it’s also repeatable. Which makes it all the more fascinating when one breaks auction records and sells for six figures.
Since its founding in 1905, Rolex has ticked through wars, deep-sea dives, moon landings, and movie close-ups. Its appeal, however, isn’t just in complications and materials (though those help) – it’s in the mythology. With Rolex, value comes less from rarity and more from cultural cachet. A Paul Newman Daytona isn’t prized because it tells the time more reliably than a Submariner: it’s prized because it tells a story of racing, rebellion and romance. Below, we unpack four of the most expensive Rolexes ever sold – and the quirks, provenance and myths that pushed them into the stratosphere.
Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona – $17.8 million
The most expensive Rolex sold to date is Paul Newman’s personal Daytona. Priced at around $210 in the 1960s, the timepiece sold for a staggering $17.8 million at auction in 2017, setting a record not just for Rolex, but for any wristwatch at that time. It wasn’t gold, encrusted with diamonds or worn by royalty – Newman’s Daytona was a fairly simple stainless steel sports watch with an "exotic" dial that dealers once struggled to sell. Far from a collector’s trophy, this was a personal watch, worn extensively at that.
Gifted to Newman by his wife, Joanne Woodward, the caseback was engraved with a loving instruction: Drive Carefully Me – a nod to his racing days. He is pictured wearing the watch consistently throughout the 1970s and ’80s – sipping coffee, timing laps, in magazine spreads – cementing it in pop culture. When Newman gave the watch away in the 1980s to his daughter’s boyfriend, it quietly disappeared from the public eye. Collectors speculated for decades, until it reappeared at auction in 2017.
The bidding process was electric, leaping from $1 million to over $10 million in under two minutes. After 12 minutes of intense competition between just two bidders, the watch finally hammered at $15.5 million ($17.8 million with fees), transforming a once-overlooked reference into a true collector’s icon. Daytona prices soared in the aftermath, and similar dial variants became increasingly sought-after. One of the most notable sales came in 2024, when Sotheby’s auctioned Tom Brady’s black-and-gold “John Player Special” Daytona for $1.14 million.
The Rolex “Unicorn” Daytona – $5.9 million
If Paul Newman’s Daytona is the most famous Rolex, the “Unicorn” is the most mysterious. Sold by Phillips in 2018 for $5.9 million, this is the only known manually wound Daytona cased in white gold, a complete anomaly in a line otherwise dominated by stainless steel. The reference 6265 dates to 1970, though its existence wasn’t public knowledge for decades. It was discovered in the private collection of John Goldberger, a renowned Rolex scholar and collector, who had owned the watch for years before revealing its existence. Unlike the polished flash of yellow gold or the casual utility of steel, white gold gives the piece a ghostly, almost stealth-like presence.
Its most intriguing feature though was the bark-textured white gold bracelet – an option Rolex never publicly offered on Daytonas, making it feel even more like a misprint or myth (hence the nickname, the “Unicorn”). Proceeds from the auction went to charity, adding a feel-good flourish to what’s already one of the most unusual and coveted Rolexes ever produced.
Rolex “Bao Dai” – $5.06 million
Among the most stately Rolexes ever made, this Rolex reference 6062 was once owned by His Majesty Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam, and it remains one of the most historically significant timepieces. Only three examples are known to exist with this exact configuration: a glossy black dial set with diamond markers. Of those, this is the only one housed in a yellow gold case.
The watch was originally purchased by the emperor in Geneva in 1954, during peace negotiations following the First Indochina War. Bao Dai reportedly asked for the “rarest and most precious” Rolex available, and this is what the retailer produced. With its moonphase and triple calendar complications, the 6062 was one of the most complex Rolex watches of its era, powered by an automatic movement and housed in the brand’s waterproof Oyster case.
It first appeared at auction in 2002, selling for $235,000. In May 2017, it returned to the block and sold for $5.06 million, setting a new Rolex record at the time. An emperor’s watch, this timepiece sits squarely at the intersection between history and horology.
Marlon Brando’s Rolex GMT-Master – $1.95 million
Not every million-dollar Rolex looks the part, and this watch is a testament to that. Marlon Brando’s GMT-Master is a little rough around the edges – and intentionally so. Worn during the filming of Apocalypse Now, the watch appeared on Brando’s wrist as Colonel Kurtz, stripped of its red and blue bezel at his own insistence. “If they’re looking at my watch, then I’m not doing my job as an actor”, he reportedly told the costume team.
The watch is a reference 1675, dated to 1972, with a matte black dial and a well-worn case. Its most distinctive feature though isn’t visible from the front: Brando carved his name into the caseback by hand – just M. Brando, etched like graffiti into metal. It fell from the public eye for decades, until resurfacing in 2019 through Brando’s daughter and son-in-law. Despite its provenance, the watch was never seen as a traditional “trophy” piece, but that only added to its appeal. It sold at Phillips in 2019 for $1.95 million, proving once again that it’s story, not sparkle, that drives value in a Rolex auction.
