The Most Expensive Rolexes Ever Sold

When it comes to covetable, hyped watches, Rolex holds the crown both metaphorically and right there on their dial. It’s like they knew where they’d be when they came up with that logo. Either way, it’s hard to find a high-profile auction that’s not being headlined by a hyper expensive Rolex.

If you do, it’ll have a Patek Philippe in that spot… followed by a Rolex. I’m not about to get into precisely why this is the case. It could be that collector culture glommed on to Rolex nice and early when a sub-set of Italian collectors went crazy for the brand. It could be because of their storied history of firsts and big-hitting fans. It could simply be because once the value of a brand starts going up, it’s easier to keep on going when everyone wants to jump on the profit train. Who knows? What we do know is that, without exception, rare Rolexes go for eye-watering amounts.

Even within that fevered clutch of collectibles though, there are some that stand head, shoulders and the GDP of a small country above the rest. These aren’t just rare Rolexes; they’re the kind of pieces you’ll see on the covers of coffee table books and heard spoken about in hushed whispers. These are the five most expensive Rolex watches ever sold. Brace yourself.

Rolex Antimagnetique Ref. 4113, CHF 2,405,000 (approx £2,135,000)

When this watch was last sold back in 2016, it was well known for breaking its own record as the most expensive watch at auction. Granted that’s not a big headline these days – aside from Rolex, rare independents are going for astronomical sums well above the paltry 2.5 million Swiss Francs it went for – but that doesn’t stop it being one of the rarest and therefore most expensive Rolexes ever put under the hammer.

The reason is simple: the reference 4113 was one of only 12 ever built. Well, only 12 are known to exist; who knows how many were actually built? What we do know is that it was the largest Rolex ever at 44mm across and was never actually made available for public sale. Instead, it was a gift for Rolex’s motorsport supporters, racing teams and drivers. Fitting then that that massive dial, enhanced by a relatively slim bezel, offered a split-seconds chronograph.

Forget the Daytona, this might be the raciest watch Rolex has ever produced. While it’s certainly not a unique piece – 12 is relatively saturated compared to others on this list – and its provenance isn’t superstar or royalty level, it’s still an oddity within the overall Rolex pantheon. It’s big, it’s a split- seconds and it’s incredibly cool.

Rolex Daytona ‘The Legend’ Ref. 6263, CHF 3,414,000 (approx. £3,035,000)

Any Paul Newman Daytona is a rare find, in large part because of how coveted they are. But The Legend is an entirely different ball game, given that only three of these bad boys have ever been seen in public. It’s a regular record-setter and more than rare enough to deserve its moniker of ‘The Legend.’

So, what makes it so legendary? Well, the combination of gold case and ‘lemon’ dial – that particular rich yellow hue – are both sought-after in and of themselves. But what sets this one apart are the pushers. Nearly all yellow gold Paul Newmans have pump pushers; it was part of their racing style.

But The Legend (and the two others like it) have screw-down pushers. Throw in the fact that it has an Oyster case, unlike later gold Paul Newman Daytonas and you have a recipe for rarity. The Rolex Oyster Cosmograph lettering on the dial is enough to send collectors into a flurry – and did, especially as this is regarded the best preserved of the three watches. When the hammer came down in 2022 it sold for a little over £3 million, well deserving of a spot among the most expensive Rolexes.

Rolex Bao Dai Ref. 6062, $5,060,427 (approx. £4,025,000)

Just as an indication of how insane Rolex prices have become, the Bao Dai was first sold in 2002 for $235,000. In 2017, it went for over $5 million. That’s an over 20-fold increase and one hell of an investment for whoever bought it first. At the time it was the most expensive watch ever sold – for about half a year. Then it was usurped by… one you’ll read about shortly. So what exactly is the Bao Dai?

The name comes from the watch’s original owner, the last Vietnamese emperor in history, Prince Nguyen Phúc Vĩnh Thuy, also known as Bao Dai. He picked up this rare reference when he attended the Geneva Conference in Geneva in 1954. The event would result in two things: the division of Vietnam and some lovely wrist candy for the future “nightclub emperor”. Seriously, Bai Dai’s life is mental and is worth a bit of background reading.

The watch itself is set apart for more than just its provenance though. It’s one of only three black dialled moon phase, triple calendar models with diamond hour markers. The other two have diamonds on the odd hours, the Bao Dai has them on the evens. This means the Rolex crown is also positioned differently, the kind of collector catnip that Rolex obsessives swoon over.

Rolex Daytona ‘Unicorn’ Ref. 6265, $5,900,000 (approx. £4,695,000)

A unicorn, as the name suggests, is a watch that’s so ultra-rare it might not even exist. We’re not talking just a few, but one. Sometimes that’s because they were a custom, from-the-maker job, sometimes it’s just because it was initially billed as a one-off prototype. Either way, it’s not the provenance that matters in these cases, it’s sheer, unadulterated rarity. In this particular case, it upended what collectors knew about Daytonas in general.

It used to be accepted that Rolex only ever made manual-wind Daytonas in steel or yellow gold. This was an immutable fact as no others had ever been discovered, listed in a catalogue or whispered of among archival custodians. So, when Phillips (again) put this unique piece up for sale, it got a lot of attention, scrutiny and disbelief. So where did it come from?

Built in 1970, it’s thought that a German retailer ordered it specifically, likely for a serious collector with some sway on Rolex. That’s not unbelievable; Rolex made plenty of Day-Dates at the time in white gold, so why not? If you look closely, you can tell its metal from the sigma on the dial, either side of the ‘Swiss’ lettering at six o’clock. This is shorthand for full gold. So, final price for this expensive Rolex? $5.9 million.

Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona Ref. 6239, $17,752,500 (approx. £14,000,000)

When we first heard this was going to auction, we assumed from the offset it would become the most expensive watch in the world without much of a stretch. Paul Newman was the man largely credited with making the Daytona the unobtainable icon it is today. Sure, it was a handsome racing chronograph in and of itself, but his casual cool and big screen presence set it apart from its Carrera and El Primero contemporaries. So associated with the watch is Newman, that his name is used to denote a very particular variation, with high contrast subdials, that’s an auction regular in and of himself.

So, when it came to the most covetable version of the most covetable Rolex owned by the man who made it so covetable well, it’s a triple threat of collector catnip that was built for headlines. You just don’t get a more impressive singularity of unobtainable aspects in a watch than that. There was always going to be huge demand – but it perhaps wasn’t as competitive as sale as you might expect. Its Phillips-helmed sale in 2017 closed just 12 minutes in, sold to a bidder on the phone of all things, with the hammer coming down for $17,752,500. That’s just around £14,000.

It’s a record that’s not been close to broken since, though that’s not such a surprise given the provenance. And with that marker set, you can be sure that if and when it comes up to auction again, it’ll smash its own numbers. These days it’s hard to imagine any watch more desirable.