Only 10 Exist: The Gold AAA Replica Rolex Daytona Watches UK Sold For More Than £1 Million
For years, the most desirable vintage AAA Rolex Daytona fake watches were steel.
Gold versions didn’t really feature in the story: too flashy, less of a “tool watch”, and not really associated with the boys-y racing image collectors liked to project.
At Sotheby’s Important Watches sale in Geneva this weekend, yellow-gold best copy Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” ref. 6239 watches sold for CHF1.15 million [£1m], setting a new world record for the reference in yellow gold and becoming one of the headline moments of the auction.
Fewer than 10 examples of the replica watches UK are believed to exist.
Made in 1967, gold top clone Rolex Daytona watches combined several things collectors currently cannot get enough of: precious metal, genuine rarity and the famously exotic “Paul Newman” dial, with its contrasting subdials and Art Deco numerals.
Sotheby’s had estimated it at CHF300,000-600,000 [ £270,000–£540,000]. Bidding eventually pushed it to almost double the high estimate.
The result formed part of Sotheby’s strongest Geneva Swiss fake Rolex watches sale in more than a decade, which totalled just under CHF15 million.
More than 1,500 bidders from 50 countries registered for the auction, while almost 50 per cent of all lots sold above their high estimate.
“That the sale now ranks among the highest results achieved for an Important Watches auction at Sotheby’s Geneva in over a decade is both a testament to the strength of the market and to the quality of the pieces we carefully assembled,” said Clara Kessi, Sotheby’s Head of Watches Geneva.
Interestingly, some of the fiercest bidding was not for predictable steel sports replica Rolex watches for sale, but for unusual vintage Cartier designs from the auction house’s ongoing “Shapes of Cartier” collection, suggesting collectors are increasingly prioritising originality and character over safe, familiar bets.