1967 Paul Newman 18KT Gold Daytona

...Rolex Studio Shot of the Day...

1967 Paul Newman 

18KT Gold Daytona

There is NOTHING in the world like vintage Rolex models, which are super cool and equally timeless. This is a superb photo of a yellow-gold Rolex Daytona [Reference 6264/6241] Cosmograph from Sotheby's Auction house. This design language of this watch is a masterpiece of hyper-elegant simplicity...

Ben Clymer Presents: The Vintage Rolex Episode With Geoff Hess

Ben Clymer Presents

The Vintage Rolex Episode With Geoff Hess

In episode four of Ben Clymer Presents, Ben interviews vintage Rolex collector and expert, Geoff Hess who is the head of watches for Sotheby's auction house as well as the founding host of the RollieFest. Ben and Geoff have a fascinating conversation about the current state of Rolex vintage collecting, and they discuss the amazing value proposition of Rolex scholarship, which is one of my favorite subject topics.

Hodinkee included the superb image below in the video above that shows a number of different vintage Paul Newman Rolex Daytona models.

...An Open Letter to Sotheby's Auction House..

 ...An Open Letter to Sotheby's Auction House..

FAKE NEWS

Sotheby's Keeps Falsely Associating 

Steve McQueen with Rolex Explorer II

Are auction houses trustworthy if they knowingly falsely associate a Rolex watch model with a celebrity who never wore such a model? As a leading Rolex historian and scholar it frustrates me to no end that auction houses worldwide keep falsely associating Rolex models with people who NEVER wore them!?!! In this case, Sotheby's AGAIN appears to be falsely associating the Rolex Explorer II with Steve McQueen in their upcoming Important Watches Part II Auction in Lot 214 on May 15, 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland.

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This is an open letter to Sotheby's Auction House:

Dear Sotheby's,

I am again formally bringing this false association to your attention and asking you to kindly fix this false association error. I acknowledge that perhaps you might have information that contradicts my premise of your false association, and if that is the case I invite you to contact me with such information that I will add to this story to refute my observation, and thus set the record straight.

If you are not able to produce evidence that associated Steve McQueen with the Rolex Explorer II, I request that you PLEASE REMOVE THE FALSE ASSOCIATION FROM YOUR UPCOMING AUCTION LOT, as doing so not only undermines your reputation as being an expert in the horological field, but also falsely perpetuates this FAKE NEWS myth.

I look forward to your response.

Jake Ehrlich

The Screenshot above from Sotheby's Auction House features a description

 that states "Rolex. Explorer II 'Steve McQueen' Reference 1655."

Sotheby's Auction House is not alone in perpetuating this false Steve McQueen association as Antiquorum Auction House and Phillips Auction House, as well as others have done the same thing in the past. In all fairness, after I reached out to Phillips Auction House in the past and brought this false Steve McQueen association to their attention with an action lot they initially argued with me about, they reluctantly fixed it by removing the historically incorrect false association.

Just to be crystal-clear, it is a fact Steve McQueen wore multiple Rolex Submariner models during his lifetime, as evidenced in the photo below, but NEVER wore a Rolex Explorer.

Steve McQueen wearing his trademark Rolex Submariner Reference 5512

In the past I published a super detailed story named: "The Complete History Of Rolex Mythbusting: Separating Rolex Fact from Fiction", which specifically discusses the falsely perpetuated myth of the Steve McQueen Explorer.

Update 1: I reached out to Sotheby's and brought this open letter to their attention. It will be interesting to see if they respond?

Update 2: On our Instagram account, @WhiskeyRolex asked:

"What's the history to the nickname? Been Referred to that way for at least 25+ years of me being a watch enthusiast?"

I responded:

"@whiskeyrolex The best scholarship suggests an unscrupulous Italian auction house back in the 1990s wanted to try and get more money for Rolex Explorer ‘Orange Hand’ models at auction, and they saw how well the accurate ‘PAUL NEWMAN DAYTONA’ was performing, so they decided to try and do the same thing by falsely associating the Explorer with Steve McQueen. 

Don’t forget this was in the pre/early internet days when they could get away with something so ridiculous. They kept falsely associating the watch and it caught on, so other auction houses saw the false association generating more $$$$$, so they followed in lockstep and perpetually followed in their footsteps. 

BTW: They did the same thing by falsely associating the Triple-Date Rolex Chronograph with Jean-Claude Killy…"

Update 3: Somebody asked, "What about calling a Rolex GMT-Master a Batman or an LV Submariner a Kermit or Hulk?" 

Those are nicknames made by watch enthusiasts in the collectors community based upon their color combination similarities, thus I have no challenge with them. Nobody thinks Kermit The Frog, Batman, Batgirl, or the Incredible Hulk wore an LV Submariner. 

Falsely associating a celebrity with a Rolex model so you can sell it for more money at a public auction is different. 

I will give you an example: 

Let's say an auction house refers to a highland green 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback as a 'Bullit Mustang', or 'Steve McQueen Mustang', that might make sense as Steve McQueen famously drove such a car in the 1969 movie Bullit. 

Steve McQueen driving a 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback

 on the Streets of San Francisco while filming Bullit

But what if an unethical auction house said, "Hey why don't we falsely associate Paul Newman with a 1966 Ford GT40 Mark II, which Paul Newman NEVER drove, and at auction started calling it the "Paul Newman GT40" that would clearly be an unethical false association!!!

Paul Newman wearing his trademark Rolex Daytona with 

Exotic White Dial which is a Rolex Reference 6239 Chronograph

There really is something to be said for authenticity!!!

I rest my case your honor...

On a side note, the video below is what the auction houses remind me of in their relentless quest and unscrupulous pursuit for trying to make easy $$$$$$$$$$.

"Yeah, I have a Rolex Explorer II prototype for sale that my best friend, Steve McQueen wore his whole life!! Yeah! That's what happened! Then you know what happened next? 'Steveo' as I affectionately called him—in-fact—took it off his wrist and gave it to his favorite stuntman, who later gave it to me since I saved him from a pit viper snake attack!!! Yeah, that's what happened! That's the ticket!!! You bet it is...You can guarantee on that!" I'm not kidding you!:

Lemon Paul Newman Daytona: Ultra rare

 

You might never expect to hear the word "Lemon" as a nickname for a Rolex. There is, however, an exception when one very special example of watchmaking history enters the conversation, like this exceedingly rare Rolex Daytona Paul Newman 6264 in gold.

The reference 6264 was not only a transitional model in production for only three years, but the pump pusher exotic dial combination is considered in the rarity realms of a prototype. Jake once said the design language of the 6264 is "a masterpiece of hyper-elegant simplicity." 

The known total production of the 6264 sits in the region of 3500, leaving potentially only 350 existing yellow gold models to ever be made or owned. It’s difficult to know how many have survived their 50-year-old lives but the low volume production is certainly the reason behind so few having ever appeared. There are about 11 known examples of a Lemon dial Paul Newman 6264 gold case.

This came up on my radar because for the first time this century, such a watch is being sold in the UK. As part of Sotheby’s September Fine Watches sale in London, this example from 1970 bears all the hallmarks of a highly-prized, collectible watch. Some would call it a true unicorn treasure.

The exotic lemon dial and pump pusher combination are really what makes this Paul Newman Daytona so special in its class. These exotic dials were only used by Rolex in a few of the gold Daytona references at the end of the 1960s before the Oyster case was introduced with screw-down crowns.

Including the exotic dials, the yellow gold 6264 was in a short three-year production at the tail end of the 1960s and into 1970s (1969-72) signifying a transition between the earlier reference 6262 and later references 6263 and 6265. The previous 6262 had an even shorter production run of one year in 1969-1970 and shared the pump pushers with the 6264. The later 6263 and 6265 embodied the Oyster case and screw down pushers. It is thought that the last exotic dial pump pusher ref. 6264 Daytonas were produced in 1971. All of the above used the calibre Valjoux 727.

1950 Rolex Triple Date Moonphase

...Rolex Studio Shot of The Day...

1950 Rolex Triple Date Moonphase

[Reference 8171: Black Dial]

If you are a regular reader of Jake's Rolex World you know vintage Rolex moonphase models are some of my absolute favorite watches. This stainless steel beauty was sold at auction by Sotheby's back in 2014. It is unique in the sense it features the red date hand with a hyper-faded moonphase disc. BTW, I have been working on a story for some time now titled "The Complete History of the Rolex Moonphase" which I hope to publish soon :-)

1962 Rolex Oyster Perpetual Coca-Cola 25 Years Of Service

...Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day...

1962 Rolex Oyster Perpetual

Coca-Cola 25 Years Of Service

Sotheby's Auction House recently sold this very interesting 1962 Rolex Oyster Perpetual Reference 6085. It is so interesting to see two super iconic names next to each other, like ROLEX and Coca Cola. One of the coolest details on the watch is that it has the older ROLEX dial designation which uses a raised, applied Rolex logo that uses the old san-serif typeface.

U.S. Navy Commander Ernest Pollitt's Rolex [Reference 8171]

A Military Moonphase Rolex from 1950

U.S. Navy Commander Ernest Pollitt's Rolex

[Reference 8171]

Sotheby's recently auctioned off this rare stainless steel Rolex Triple-date Moonphase, which U.S. Navy Commander Ernest Pollitt purchased in 1950 after returning from his tour of duty in Korea. Commander Pollitt wore his Rolex daily for decades. It sold several months ago for $74,500.